A Weekend Away
by greenstuff2
Summary: First impressions can be misleading ...
1. Chapter 1

All rights to TG and BBC etc

 _ **A/N: I've written the first couple of chapters of this so I can see how it goes before I go on. I am also doing a sequel to Consequences but have a bit more research to do before I'm ready, as well as I have to decide how far to go with some issues around Sammie ...**_

-OG-

No rugby and not his turn to have Sam for the weekend either. But not even the thought of another weekend spent drinking in some grotty boozer with whoever was around could persuade him that this had been one of his better decisions when it clearly wasn't. But, as Elvis had so kindly pointed out the alternatives were also pretty gruesome, a weekend in the flat on his own, probably ending up feeling sorry for himself, or a trip to Bath to see his parents and being forced to listen to another one of his mother's endless lectures. Elvis had been wrong about one thing though; he couldn't see himself ever being lonely enough to think this was a good idea.

The others were all too busy drawing attention to themselves to notice that he'd arrived, even though he'd noticed them as soon as he'd walked in. They were hard to bloody miss making a racket like a bunch of teenagers as they eyed up a group of girls who were giggling and pretending not to notice that the men checking them out were far too bloody old. To Charles' jaundiced eye the girls didn't look much older than Sam.

He'd known from the second he'd got there that this was a mistake of epic proportions. He hadn't got the slightest desire to spend time with a crowd he'd had nothing to do with since Sandhurst and the idea of getting involved in the antics of an over-grown toddler like Elvis appalled him. Charles wouldn't mind betting his house and probably his car on top that the idiot had every intention of recreating their most stupid exploits, mainly involving copious amounts of alcohol, as he made some mistaken attempt at recapturing their youth. Charles knew he was too _old,_ no, that he was fucking _ancient._

He couldn't help noticing the flicker of interest on the receptionist's face when she looked up from her screen and smiled at him, holding onto his fingers when she gave him back his credit card for just a few seconds too long as her gaze lingered on his mouth and she showed him all her teeth, but he wasn't interested. She was a pretty enough girl, that wasn't the problem, if you ignored the heavy make-up, who was neat looking wearing the ubiquitous striped shirt buttoned up modestly to hide any hint of cleavage. She had a name badge he couldn't read even if he could be bothered to try and it wasn't her fault of course that he was in such a foul bloody mood that he couldn't even conjure up a smile in response, just a nod of acknowledgement. His face felt too stiff and awkward and as if he needed a hell of a lot more practise before a smile might begin to look genuine again.

"Hey ... careful"

The girl in the football shirt wasn't looking where she was going so she'd barrelled smack into him, whacking him painfully on the shins with her case on wheels. She almost sent him flying before she fell over it herself and tumbled to the floor, then pushed the loose strands of hair back from her face with one hand as she glared up at him from down by his feet.

"ME? That wasn't me, that was you, you bloody bashed into me, why don't you look where you're fuc... going?"

He instinctively put out his hand to help her get up as she scrambled awkwardly to her feet and ignored it, so that he was left standing with an awkwardly outstretched arm, before picking up the handle of her horrible bright pink shiny case on wheels and then narrowed her eyes to glare at him again.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, no thanks to you" She turned and started to flounce off in the direction of the lifts without saying another word and then tossed her hair back in some gesture of angry defiance "Twat"

He wanted more than anything to rub his leg, dissipate some of the painful legacy of the Taliban bullet that had this bloody awful habit of flaring up at the most inconvenient times. Most of the time he did his best to keep the residual weakness hidden from people around him, but getting smacked on the scar had set off all kinds of teeth-grinding agony which he hoped would be transient, but which was at that moment putting the icing on the cake of his mood. Despite the extreme provocation, venting some of that anger and pain on little Miss Attitude wouldn't actually have done anything to help, it would be an exercise in futility because she was now way out of earshot and short of running after her, which he had no intention of doing, it would be a complete waste of time and energy. She wouldn't be able to hear a word from here, and probably wouldn't care if she did.

The biggest challenge now wasn't hiding the limp, he was used to that, but was ignoring the sinking feeling in his guts that had been there from the first moment he'd arrived. He'd had to drive up and down the sea front looking for somewhere to park which hadn't done a whole lot to help his frame of mind, as he'd loudly cursed whichever moron, probably Elvis, had thought it was a good idea to choose somewhere at the seedier end of the sea front instead of one of the better places with proper parking, a spot had magically appeared in one of the side roads. His heart had started sinking even further as he made his way on foot towards the sea front, the grey skies and the stormy sea and the fine drizzle that was blowing into his face as he got his first real look at the grubby exterior of the hotel and at the tatty area surrounding it all just underlined how bloody nuts he was to be spending two days somewhere that looked like a dump with a group of people he hadn't seen for bloody years and who knew nothing about his life as it was now, with exception of Elvis. That was unless Elvis had told them ... and if he had Charles would kill him.

"Good on you Charlie boy, you might be out of practise, but you haven't lost it I see"

Elvis had taken his sunglasses off and raised his eyebrows as he leered at the football shirt girl, the one who was exuding irritable impatience by tapping her foot repeatedly as she waited for a lift "She looks like she could do with some of the old Charlie magic, needs a bit of cheering up by the look of it ... what you waiting for?"

"What? What the fuck are you talking about?"

Charles raised a sardonic eyebrow at the idiot who'd been his best friend in the days when they'd been young and stupid, before Rebecca, before Afghan, actually before any of it, and gave him the sort of stony stare that, coupled with that particular tone of voice, made 2 section shut up and pretend to be outstanding examples of obedience and respect "I don't know what you're talking about" He shook his head as Elvis pasted a lascivious grin on his face obviously getting ready to continue winding him up "Second thoughts, I don't want to know, so ... just ... shut the fuck up ... and ... stop calling me that ridiculous bloody name, it's time you grew up isn't it?"

"Bloody hell Charlie, I can see you're about ready for a weekend of booze and maybe a stripper or two, and you never know you luck, a bit of leg over maybe ..."

"Fuck off Elvis"

"Oh, you're going to be a barrel of laughs, I can see that" Elvis smirked and put his sunglasses back on with a flourish even though they were still standing in the dark lobby and Charles contemplated simply walking out, leaving, walking out of the door and going home even though he'd just paid for his stay "Come on, it's been more than a year now, mate, nearer two isn't it? ... time to start getting over it ... and you look like you could use a drink"

 _ **MOLLY**_

Molly dumped Bella's case on the bed and looked for something to wear that was more in keeping with the place than the West Ham shirt she'd got on, she'd only been there about ten minutes but already it all felt a bit shit. She'd been sure people were looking at her a bit funny when she'd been checking in and then some prick in a suit had bashed into her and sent her arse over tit as if she wasn't even there, and he hadn't said sorry, had just looked her up and down as if she was nothing, how bloody dare he? She had as much right to be there as he did, and it shouldn't matter what someone was wearing, should it? But it seemed like it did, or maybe it was just her being a bit ... touchy ... but it had done her head in.

Most of the stuff in the case belonged to the owner, even the knickers, because Molly had very little that was suitable for anything other than an evening down the pub or a booze fuelled outing to some tatty dump of a night club where it was either too dark or everyone was too pissed to see what it was you were wearing. She hadn't bought much with her, most of Bella's stuff was very nice but was too small for her so she still hadn't got a lot that was suitable for this crappy weekend that she'd got herself involved in.

The room wasn't bad, quite nice really, okay, it was a hell of a lot nicer, bigger and better than the one she shared at home with Bella. It had a nice big double bed which she'd bounced up and down on as soon as she'd got in there, and it's own bathroom with a shower, even had a sea view so it was a bit of a bummer that it was all cloudy and damp and horrible, and she was still a bit bothered about paying for it and how far over the her credit card limit it was going to take her even on a special weekend deal. She'd been supposed to be sharing a twin with Sarah but that hadn't happened, but the bored girl on the desk hadn't even looked at her as she'd taken an imprint of her card but she hadn't pissed herself laughing either or told her to bugger off and take her useless bit of plastic with her. It could still happen when it was time to go home, and she didn't know whether coppers get called if someone can't pay their bill, just hoped that if it came to the worst one of the others would give her a lend. But that wasn't going to happen till tomorrow and there was no point in bloody worrying about it until she had to was there?

This hen night weekend thing had seemed like a fabulous idea when they'd been hammered celebrating Phoebe's engagement to knobhead Mike, so that Molly had heard herself saying 'yeah, course, what a good idea' even though she hadn't got any intentions of doing anything of the kind. She hadn't got the money for this sort of thing, especially now she was on her own with only one minimum wage and part-time job in a shop to pay for everything, and anyhow it had been ages back now so that it had seemed like it was something that wasn't ever going to happen. Who in their right bloody mind would marry him? And even if it did turn out to be true, there'd been plenty of time to come up with a good reason why she couldn't, but she'd hadn't seemed able to find the right time to tell Phoebe, and then one by one the others had started to drop out and Phoebe had got all emotional about not having any mates so Molly had kept on putting off telling her. And then putting it off a bit more, and then it was too bloody late, so here she was.

When she'd been little she'd longed to be grown-up, she'd thought it must be magic to decide things for yourself, to do whatever you wanted when you wanted and have no-one ordering you about all the bloody time or making you feel bad about anything. No–one going on and on about how you had to do this or that, how you had to go to school or do the washing up or all the other shit that she'd hated. But to say it hadn't turned out that way was an understatement, leaving school without a qualification to your name just meant you had to work twice as hard as any other bugger to get anywhere.

But she'd made it. She'd done an access course and had worked two shitty off the books jobs while she was doing it, one at a care home which stank of cabbage and piss and one in a bloody awful pub that hadn't smelled much better, but she'd got herself into Uni and was dead proud of it. Okay it might be the University of East London and not somewhere that was famous or dead sought after, well, no-one she spoke to had ever really heard of it, but it was in Stratford which meant she could easy live at home, because one thing for sure, she hadn't got enough money to live anywhere else.

The shower using all the freebies was glorious, it was long and hot and best of all no bugger kept bashing on the door and yelling at her not to use all the hot water and no the little bleeders were shouting that they needed a pee. She'd dried her hair and done her eyes but was now in a bit of a quandary as she tried to decide which of Bella's clothes looked the least tarty. After a bit of getting pissed off and thinking it was easier to give it a swerve and stay up here, watch the tele, eventually deciding on the black one which showed less flesh than the others even if it was a bit on the snug side as well as being too low cut, but on the plus side Bella's killer heels fitted her spot on and gave her an extra couple of inches of much-needed height ... and confidence.

-OG-

They'd come up with this brilliant money-saving plan when they'd been in the pub and had all agreed that the best thing to do was to find someone to pay for their drinks, some bloke who was well pissed so that he'd feel generous, would think all his Christmases had come at once. Phoebe had insisted that it wouldn't make them look cheap or tacky, that it was a tradition, something that they'd all pretended to believe at the time, but they'd also agreed that they'd stick to just one in the hotel so that it wouldn't cost him too much. They didn't want to look like they were hookers or anything, that would be ... well, it'd be all wrong, and anyhow none of them were exactly Julia Roberts. And then after they'd had a drink they'd go for a walk and find some fish and chips or a burger or something and eat it on the pier before seeing what else Brighton had to offer. Then, when they got fed up of that, they'd hit the pubs and start the serious shit. Sarah, who'd been going to share the cost of the room but who'd cried off, had worked in a Holiday Inn for a bit, although not anymore, and it was probably best not to ask why not, but she'd filled them in on how hotels hiked up the price of the booze.

"Molls, MOLLS, at last, where you been?"

The original plan seemed to have gone out the window a little bit if the state of the bride was anything to go by. Phoebe was wearing her hen-night veil with all the condoms dangling off of it which she'd called funny but classy, which it definitely wasn't, and had already got that glassy look that only several very large glasses of something or other could produce, although Molly wouldn't be a bit surprised if she'd taken something mood altering on top. Her fiancée was the local dealer after all. They'd been joined by, well, they'd picked up by the looks of it, a group of blokes, strangers, who also looked like they were having a really good time, especially the one wearing shades who practically had his nose in Phoebe's cleavage.

"Sorry getting ready ... Shit, Phoebs, thought we was just having the one"

Molly tried not to look or sound judgemental, it wasn't exactly unknown for her to be in a similar state, although not usually this early in the evening but right now she was way behind the rest with some serious catching up to do by the looks of it "You gonna introduce me to your friends, then?"

"Yeah course" Phoebe banged her glass down on the table to get their attention and spilled a large amount of coke in the process, or more likely something alcoholic and coke, and then peered closely at them one by one, obviously trying to get them into focus "This one 'ere is Elvis ..."

"Yeah, course he is, I can see that" Molly laughed aloud and widened her eyes at him, she couldn't have made her scepticism any plainer if she'd written a sign saying 'lying shitbag' and held it up in front of him "Thought you was dead"

"I've heard that before..."

Phoebe didn't seem to notice that he was saying anything as she carried on "Nah, he is, honest, that is his name, he said, and the others are ..." Phoebe looked around and then narrowed her eyes as she scratched her head surprising herself when she got a handful of veil, before going on with the introductions "Not sure now ... everyone this is our Molls"

Molly smiled a vague greeting at them even at the one who called himself Elvis, the one who obviously thought he was on a promise for later on and was, in the meantime, posing like god's gift in his sunglasses, tosser.

And then the one who'd been sitting with his back to her stood up and did the gentleman thing giving her his seat. The smile and her words of thanks died on her lips immediately as she got a proper look at him, Mister Tall, Dark and Fucking Miserably Up Himself, the one in a suit who didn't know how to look where he was going so went around bashing into innocent people like her who happened to get in his way. Worst of all, though, his eyes just skimmed over her without any hint of recognising her, no smile, no nod, no nothing, as he moved to lean up against the wall and undid the top button of his shirt loosening his tie. He looked all broody and miserable, and like he wasn't having a good time at all, not a bit like the others, but then he didn't look as though he knew how.

"I think we might 'ave already met"


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Sorry this has taken a while, but have rewritten it over and over and am still not 100% happy with it, but I don't think writing it again will do much to help. The next chapters are flowing much more freely, and I am sorry to those who thought I was being mean to Elvis, but I wasn't trying to, I was just trying to show how sometimes people lash out at those who are trying to help, especially when that help is not appreciated.**_

-OG-

The bride seemed to be doing her best to model herself on Marilyn Monroe but wasn't even a proper blonde, wasn't even a bottle blonde, but had horrible blonde stripes in her hair, what he could see of it under the bit of old net on her head with all the 'glow in the dark' condoms stuck on it. She was loud and was already drunk enough to be slurring her speech, so that Charles could hear his mother tutting from here, and the rest of the girls in the hen party weren't a hell of a lot better either. But at least they weren't just about to walk down the aisle with some poor unsuspecting sod who he wouldn't mind betting was completely oblivious to the sort of thing she got up to when he wasn't around. He'd probably got no idea that the girl he was about to marry would sit in a bar shrieking with laughter and draping herself all over bloody Elvis as she enjoyed her so-called last night of freedom.

He found it unutterably depressing to watch so didn't mind in the slightest letting the latest arrival have his seat, not only because it was the so-called 'gentlemanly' thing to do, something that seemed to have escaped the notice of the others, but because leaning against that wall was only one short step from the disappearing act he was intent on. The thought of taking himself for a walk along the sea front on his own was infinitely more appealing than spending the rest of the evening with a bunch of drunken 'hens' and listening to Elvis. The idiot was now winking and smirking suggestively and vigorously nodding his head to try and draw his attention to the girl who'd just walked in as if her arrival should mean something to him for some reason, or as if he should recognise her which he didn't. Charles studiously ignored him because he was 100% sure he'd never seen her before in his life and wasn't actually too bothered if he never saw her again, until she opened her mouth. He recognized her instantly even though she looked very different from the way he remembered, her voice was definitely the girl who hadn't been looking where she was going, the girl who'd called him a twat and who'd tried to cripple him when she'd used her case as a lethal fucking weapon.

"Just gonna get a drink..."

She was out of her seat before anyone could think of offering to go and get one for her. Molly had always hated walking in cold to a group of people who were already well-oiled, it made her horribly self-conscious, so that she needed to check all her buttons were done up and people were always telling her to leave her bloody hair alone, that it looked fine and to stop fiddling, but being the only one sober made her feel like an outsider. The one in the bloody sunglasses who called himself Elvis and who had his nose in Phoebe's cleavage was nodding and smirking at her which should have made her feel better, as if she was welcome, but didn't and it didn't help that Mr Up Himself was standing there all broody and miserable and giving her this bloody _look,_ as though she'd been lying through her teeth when she'd said they'd met before. If she had the courage of being outside a couple of drinks she'd have told him that it was his memory was shit not hers, but life was too short to waste time talking to a dickhead like him.

"I'll get these, same again for everyone is it?"

He'd stopped propping up the wall and raised his eyebrow at her instead of asking what it was she'd like to drink, everyone else just asked for a repeat but the arrogant fucker hadn't asked her properly; so he was just asking for her to tell him where he could stick it...

"Nah, it's okay, don't worry I'll get 'em in"

She hadn't got a clue why she'd said that when even for her it was spectacularly dumb. She had enough money to pay for her own drink but getting all stupid and offering to get a round in for this lot was going to leave her completely fucked, she wouldn't even have enough left to get something to eat let alone go to the pub after and she couldn't charge it to the room, but it was just that she'd got this vague feeling that it would feel wrong to have to say thanks to him and that she would hate having to sit back down and then wait for him to bring it over for her like a good girl. In a lot of ways it came as a relief when he ignored her as if she was a gnat that was bothering him but she wasn't just going to sit back down like some obedient little girl when he waved his arm for her to do as she was told, although she was having a job keeping up with him in Bella's shoes when he was striding off without waiting to let her catch up. She wanted to tap him on the shoulder and ask him to slow down a bit, ask him what his bleeding hurry was, but didn't.

"Your leg better now then?"

"What?"

He stopped dead and looked back over his shoulder, his voice was sharp with barely concealed irritation as he frowned and then walked on without waiting for her to answer at the same time pretending not to notice that she had to keep doing little skips to try and catch up with him.

"Your leg, not still sore then?" She added deaf to the list of his other shortcomings as she packed as much sarcasm into her voice as she possibly could "Only I didn't think it was that bad but you seemed to be making a lot of fuss 'n it weren't my fault, was it? It was you was the one who wasn't looking where you was going and it was me ended up on my arse wasn't it, not you"

If it had been anyone else she would have shut up and dropped it, might even have been prepared to admit that a tiny bit of the fault could have been hers, she'd been in a rush to get away in case the girl on the desk started calling her back about her credit card, but she was buggered if he was going to make her feel bad enough to admit anything when it had definitely been mainly down to him.

He had no idea why she was going on about his leg or why she was following him to the bar when he'd said he'd buy everyone a drink, especially when she was having a job to keep up but then the silly bitch was wearing the same ridiculous sort of shoes that Rebecca loved, walking properly in them was difficult enough let alone catching up with someone who wasn't in the mood to slow down and wait.

"There's nothing wrong with my leg"

"Fine"

Molly packed as much of her well-honed 'why don't you just fuck off and die' tone into the word as she could, before taking a deep breath and telling herself to stop being a stroppy cow when he was going to put his hand in his pocket and buy her a drink. Max used to tell her that she was her own bloody worst enemy and she'd have to admit he'd been right, what the fuck did she think she was doing? It didn't matter that he was Mr Darcy with a stick rammed up his bum, well except for needing a shave …. and being a wimp about a little bash on his leg …. and not having the decency to even recognise her, but he was about to buy her a drink, and then they could go back to join the others and she wouldn't have to ever speak to him again. It was times like these that she missed Max the most, knowing she could call him later and hear him tease her, tell her to behave herself and to stop all the stroppy drama queen shit, but thinking about Max wasn't going to help, and even if she'd didn't like Mr Posh she could put up with him for a few minutes, as long as it wasn't too long.

"Look, let's just get these drinks and go back and sit down, okay?"

"Alright, keep your hair on"

"I am keeping my hair on ….. with some difficulty I might add" He scowled, unbelievably irritated by her attitude "My leg is fine ….. it hurt for a bit, but it was just an old war wound that plays up sometimes ". He didn't know why he was explaining it to her of all people, it was none of her business and he was certain that in spite of being in a mood since he'd got there it wasn't him but her who was being completely bloody annoying. He also had no idea why a pretty girl like her was looking at him with such a fierce expression in her eyes, except that she was undoubtedly used to loads of male attention which he wasn't about to give her, not that he cared particularly if she hated him, as he kept on telling himself, a few minutes, half an hour at the most and he'd be out of there, not even an evening like this could last forever.

"Shit" She giggled unsympathetically and rolled her eyes which she wrongly assumed he couldn't see "But that's what people off of Dad's Army say, innit?" She began to giggle in earnest which made it difficult for him to stop the corners of his mouth twitching; he didn't want to laugh, he wanted to maintain his composure because the last thing he wanted was for her to see that what she'd said had amused him.

"Indeed …. although believe it or not I'm not that old ….. and in my case I'm afraid it is true, it's a legacy of the Taliban" He looked down and saw a fleeting frown appear briefly on her face, something that tempted him to smirk at her obvious discomfort for some reason.

Oh shit, so maybe he hadn't been making a big deal out of nothing after all but she definitely didn't want to start feeling sorry for him, she wanted to carry on hating him "You're not one of them are you?"

"One of what? A terrorist?"

"Nah, well yeah, you don't look like one" She looked up at him carefully for the first time and noticed how fit looking he was, even thought he wasn't her type "You 'aven't got the beard, although you look like you could be growing one I s'pose, but you could be …. I mean you could be anything …. serial killer, anything …... everyone says you have to be careful of people you meet in hotels"

"Indeed you do" He raised an eyebrow and smirked, then wondered whether she would react to the fact that he'd just turned it back on her "But you can rest assured that I'm neither of those things, okay?" He couldn't be entirely sure whether she'd been taking the piss or if it was a serious observation "Are you?"

"Me? Nah, well I 'aven't got a beard either, but you never know, I could be a serial killer" She giggled "I've left a trail of dead bodies all over the shop, couldn't you tell?"

"Well now you come to mention it …. " He paused "The Taliban shot me in the leg ….. in Afghanistan"

"And there was me thinking it was in Kilburn" She shook her head "You know, I do read newspapers sometimes" She knew instinctively that he'd assumed her reading usually consisted of looking at celebrity gossip magazines "I know where the Taliban are … weird I know for someone like me"

"Sorry, I didn't mean that to sound the way it did"

"Yeah you did … but it's alright people always think I'm dumb ….. look it don't matter" She took a deep breath "Does it still hurt, where you was shot I mean?"

"Nope, only when people bash into me and smack me with something hard"

"I keep telling you that was your own fault, not mine …." Molly took a deep breath and decided to change the subject "What's your name?"

"No it wasn't my …" He gave up, knowing there was nothing he could say that was going to stop them going round and round in circles about who was most to blame "It's Charles ….. I'm Charles James … and you're Molls?"

"Me name's Molly ….." She grinned and stuck out her hand for him to shake as she prepared to be nice, well just as long as he didn't do anything else to piss her off, or say anything else that made her want to shoot him ….. she didn't know exactly why it was his fault that she'd been in that sort of mood, but then again it had to be because it certainly wasn't hers "So, Charles who must have been in the army if you got hurt in Afghanistan, was that in our army, I mean, the British one, the one on our side?"

"Cheeky bitch, of course it was in our army, on our side ….. I still am"

"Okay, just checking" she grinned "Do they call you Charles?"

She did her best to imitate the way he'd said his name by speaking as if there was a marble rolling about in her mouth "Or can I call you Charlie?"

"Only over my dead body … or if you're my mother" He couldn't help the laugh that escaped though he hated being called Charlie; her giggle was very infectious "And what's wrong with Charles anyway, why is it so bloody hilarious?"

"Nothin' … there's nothin' wrong with it …. suits you dunnit?"

Another comment that for some reason she found hilarious and Charles decided to ignore, merely jerking his head to indicate that they should stop leaning against the bar and make their way back to the others, he had a suspicion from the way she was laughing that he wouldn't particularly like the explanation ….

"What do you do Molly?"

"I'm at Uni" She looked up and stopped walking as he stopped dead to look down at her with surprise written all over him "In me second year"

"Really? Are you?"

The instant the words left his mouth he realized that he was patronizing her again, which he didn't think he'd meant to do, he was just taken aback at how very young she was. If she was only in her second year then the odds were that she wasn't much older than the girls in the lobby, probably only twenty at the most, she was a lifetime younger than him.

"Yeah, shocking innit? They let us in everywhere these days, people like me, mind you the course is spray-tans so it's okay, nothin' too complicated"

"Which University is that?" He wasn't sure how to respond to what she'd said as he did his best to control the irresistible bubble of laughter that was trying to surface, especially when he looked at her faked expression of wide-eyed innocence "You want to know something Molly? I can't think why, but I've got the feeling that you're winding me up"

"Me? Nah, why would I do that?" She broke into a giggle and nudged him so that some of the booze slopped out of the glasses and onto the tray that he was carrying back to the very noisy group waiting to top up their blood alcohol levels "Bet you went to one of them posh jobs, didn't you? Oxford or Cambridge or somewhere like that"

"Nope, that's where you'd be wrong"

"What, you're telling me you didn't go?"

"I didn't say that" He laughed at the expression on her face and the sudden realization that he was actually enjoying himself "I went to St. Andrews"

"That's in Scotland innit? The one Wills went to and Kate?"

"Yup, bosom pals the three of us" He winked and then laughed, knowing that she wasn't entirely sure whether he was telling her the truth or not, which he wasn't "And then I went to Sandhurst which is where I met Elvis and the rest of that lot over there"

"What, they're soldiers 'n all? Even him? Dickhead? And that's his real name? You're bloody kidding me aren't you?"

"He's alright when you get to know him"

"Is he?"

"Your mate seems to think so"

"Yeah well, she's got her beer goggles on hasn't she? She's a bit hammered"

Another silence and a conversational dead-end as far as Charles was concerned as they resumed their walk in silence. For some reason he didn't much want to hear her say she thought there was anything remotely attractive about Elvis, he'd seen the way Elvis had looked at her …..

"What are you studying when you're not learning how to do a spray-tan?"

"Don't knock it, there's a lot of money in spray-tans ….. don't you watch Strictly?"

"Nope, pretty sure you're winding me up though"

"I'm doing what they call extended sciences, it's people like me who were shit at school ….. 'n then in another three years when I finish I can get on and do some'ing else, some'ing useful next time"

"What is it you want to do?"

"Not sure yet, bloody long way off innit?"

She knew exactly what she was going to do and was determined to do it but whenever she'd said anything to anyone about it, even to the family, they'd pissed themselves laughing at the idea so she shut up about it these days. Even Max hadn't been able to believe that she wanted to do it so badly she was prepared to walk away from everything else, including him, but she had and she did, and he hadn't been able to forgive her, had said that it showed that she didn't love him enough which she had to admit was probably right, but he hadn't even said a proper goodbye before he'd pissed off for good.

"No it's not, believe me it'll fly by" He looked down and smiled "You didn't say where you're studying"

"East London, Stratford …" She saw the puzzled look on his face "Where they had the Olympics? Don't worry about it, it's not just you, no-one's ever 'eard of it being a University"

"No, sorry I can't say I have"

"Well, I live near there and it's good, it's okay, there's a lot of us on our course are a little bit common like me and most of us were pretty crap at school, so no-one is looking down their noses at anyone"

"Why do you keep saying things like that, why would anyone look down their nose at you?"

"Cos it's true?"

He shook his head in disbelief before nudging her with his shoulder and indicating that she should slide into the seat. He hesitated slightly before he slid in next to her and totally ignored all the knowing winks and smirks that appeared on Elvis' face. She could feel the warmth of his thigh against hers as he squashed into the seat instead of going back to leaning against his wall and instinctively angled her head in his direction when he leaned sideways to whisper, his warm breath fanning her cheek and making all the little hairs by her ear shiver as he made sure no-one else could hear what he was saying.

"You know something, Molly, I've got the strangest feeling that you're one hell of a lot smarter than you'd have me believe?"


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: I know this is long, hopefully not long enough to get boring, and that you enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying creating the picture in my head. Thank you for your reviews, they mean the world to me, so please carry on letting me know that you're still with me, otherwise I get paranoid ….. . Chapter 4 is almost done (unless I get the urge to re-write it – again).**_

-OG-

The sofas were designed for two people to sit side by side or maybe three at a pinch if they were very close friends, so it was cramped sitting there next to him trying not to press her thigh against the fat bloke sitting on her other side taking up all the space, Eddie …. or Freddie, something like that, someone had told her but she couldn't remember. It did mean having to sit with Charles' leg touching hers though and his arm brushing against her when he moved so that she was a bit distracted from whatever it was the others were talking about but couldn't think of anything to say to fill the sudden silence between them, well nothing sensible anyway. Her psychology lecturer had told them once that the best thing if you're not sure and it's all gone a bit quiet and funny is to ask the person to talk about themselves, as a rule people don't get bored if they're the main topic of conversation.

So she asked him to tell her about Afghanistan, what it had been like before the bearded nutjob with a gun had used him for a target, and where else he'd been and then worried that it might sound as if she was interrogating him. But she was enjoying listening to his voice and the way he sounded when he was telling her how hard it was sometimes being in charge and being responsible for everyone staying safe. She laughed when he admitted that they had to call him 'Sir' and had asked whether they had to salute him all the bloody time as well, seeing as how he was like their boss or something, because she didn't agree with calling anyone 'Sir' ….. she never had and she'd never saluted anyone in her life either, and wasn't about to start so he could forget it if he thought that was going to happen.

He longed to ask her what circumstances she was conjuring up in that brain of hers that could possibly lead to him expecting her to salute, but then wondered if it might sound a tad 'Fifty Shades-ish' so told her instead that that was what being in the army meant, and that he had to call people 'Sir' sometimes as well and even had to salute them. She'd looked at him with a wicked grin on her face and said it all sounded a bit shit to her and that she'd maybe just stick to chopping up dead things, frogs 'n rats 'n that, even if they did pen 'n ink a bit. Charles pretended to be squeamish so that the thought of doing anything like that made him shudder and then threw his head back and roared with laughter. He simply didn't remember the last time he'd spent so much time talking about, well, about himself really, usually any of his conversations of any length were with Sammie, or work-related, he didn't know when he'd last enjoyed one as much as he was enjoying this one.

Molly had begun to have the best time she'd had since Max, she was doing a lot of laughing with him but at the same time, unfortunately, had sort of begun to lose track of exactly how many drinks had found their way down her throat, although it might have been a fair few, if the way she found herself staring at his mouth when he talked was anything to go by … and the way that she had to force herself to look away when she started to wonder what it would be like to kiss him. She had to give herself a little mental shake and remind herself that even a nice mouth and lovely white teeth like his didn't make him her type….

To start with he was far too old for her ….. too … Mr Darcy-ish …. too posh, even if he did have this voice that was really sexy, and he was most likely married, of course he was, and she didn't touch married men. Blokes of his age usually were, especially blokes who looked like him, although she didn't actually know any others so he was definitely a first on that front, but she was beginning to feel as if she needed one of them human shields to get in between her and him and stop her from … from well, whatever, she had to remember it was the booze that was making her think stuff, and that she should concentrate on the him who was an up-himself miserable git because how the fuckitty fuck did she go from him making her skin itch so that she'd wanted to lamp him one, to here, to where she kept wondering what he was like under all that … suit … shit, she was as bad as Phoebe with the beer goggles.

Bloody Elvis had ignored Charles when he said for him to shut the fuck up and had kept on with all these little nods and winks and this saying stuff that she couldn't hear but what was obviously about her because it was making Phoebe and Zoe giggle and keep on looking over. Molly wasn't actually renowned for her patience, although she'd have said she had the patience of a saint, still enough was bloody enough. She could take a joke with the best of them, but he was seriously pissing her off so much that she leaned over and patted him on the knee and then told him sweetly that she hoped he didn't mind her saying but he could get treatment for them twitches these days. Charles had snorted a really loud laugh down his nose before he turned back to look at her, his face alight with laughter and his eyebrows almost disappeared up in his curls.

"Sorry, just that he's getting on me tits"

"No, Oh no, please don't apologise, that was wonderful, you're wonderful ….. Elvis is …. very bad news where women are concerned"

"I used to work in this pub in the east end, years ago now, but it was bloody full of knobheads like him, all thought they was god's gift" She shook her head ruefully as she thought about the days when she'd perfected the art of dealing with blokes like Elvis "Don't worry about me, I'm well used to it"

"Tell me something, Molly, how old are you?"

"24 ….. why, what's that gotta do with anything?"

"Nothing, just curious, and I'm surprised to hear that you'd worked in a pub, you look too young"

Charles didn't even try to work out why the sudden surge of pleasure and of … relief … that she was older than he'd originally assumed.

"I'm wearing well, it's me good healthy lifestyle, five a day does it every time" She waved her glass about before turning it upside down in the air to show it was empty.

"Indeed, I can see that ….. or is that your subtle way of telling me that you'd like another? Oh and by the way, I don't think five a day applies to Vodka"

"I know, bit of a bugger that, innit? But nah thanks, you know, thanks anyway but think I've had enough …. So come on then Charlie it's your turn, how old are you?"

"I'm not dead … and you're not my mother last time I looked, so I'm not Charlie, I'm Charles ….. and I'll be 33 next birthday"

"Shit, will you? Poor old bugger you, mind I thought you was older, specially when you get all miserable about not being Charlie 'n that … nah, nah, I didn't mean it …. I never…. Stop it, I'm sorry ….. sorry … just messing …"

Suddenly there was nothing to say so he slowly stopped laughing and very reluctantly moved his hands away from round her throat. He'd been intent on shaking her gently, pretending he was about to try and throttle her, but touching her had filled him with an overpowering urge to run his thumbs slowly along her jaw instead and to tangle his fingers in her hair and pull her towards him, to close the gap between them and to silence her giggled protests by kissing her…. In spite of where they were and of being surrounded by people and in spite of the total inappropriateness of it, he couldn't think of anything he wanted more …..

-OG-

The party ended when the hotel sent in the big guns, the manager, to stand behind the bar with a disapproving look on his face and to glower in their direction. Other residents had obviously objected to the way they were behaving and Charles couldn't say he blamed them, the bride was loud and very drunk and was using really offensive language, she was shrieking with laughter and swearing at the top of her voice so that several families had gathered up their children and left, after sending deeply disgusted looks in their direction which made him, for one, extremely uncomfortable. Much as he didn't want to stop talking to Molly, Charles wasn't sorry when it was time to go in search of food, even with all his years of experience of squaddies on the lash, this was something new and he found it distasteful and embarrassing and even Elvis had put his hand over her mouth at one point and the other girls kept telling her to keep it down. Zoe and the other girl, Julie, were also very, very pissed, although not as bad as the bride, and even Molly was slightly unsteady on her feet, although she was nothing like as bad as the rest after their head start. She was also just a tiny bit angry, she'd been really enjoying herself until Phoebe had started with all the shit and didn't want to go out in the cold and go off somewhere and get even more pissed, but knew they'd have to leave in any case because they were going to get thrown out any minute.

"Bye, Charlie"

"Bye, be careful won't you? Don't get arrested or anything"

Her insistence that he'd given her his permission to call him Charlie, which he absolutely hadn't, ceased to matter when she stood on her tiptoes and pecked his cheek.

"Don't fall in if you go on the pier, and" He inclined his head towards Phoebe "And if she falls in, just chuck her a life belt, don't dive in to save her will you?"

"No chance of that … can't swim, can I?"

She grinned and laughed, even though for some reason, probably that she was a bit drunk, her eyes were beginning to prickle at the thought of not seeing him again, stupid, when he was a stranger "It was really nice meeting you Charlie….. and don't get yourself in the way again when people start shooting"

"Ditto"

"Ditto? What does that even mean?"

"It means ….don't you get in the way when people start waving guns around …. And that it was really nice to meet you too"

She waggled her fingers in an attempt at a wave looking back at him over her shoulder as he stood and watched her go, and wanted to shout after her, to tell her not to ….. but she was following Phoebe so he was left there ….. just watching ….

-OG-

Despite her initial reluctance to go out, the fish and chips in their box things tasted good, she was bloody starving as soon as she got out in the fresh air and they'd gone back to Plan A and were walking, or in Phoebe's case staggering down the pier eating with little wooden forks and their fingers, and shivering. It was chilly and damp although it wasn't raining but she could hear the sea crashing about under the pier which she wasn't sure she liked that much. But Bella's shoes were hard enough to walk in at the best of times and rain would have made it a whole lot worse and it was a hell of a lot further than she'd bargained for. Every step was agony and she hadn't had anywhere near enough booze for it to be an effective anesthetic for her feet.

-OG-

The Chilli Pickle turned out to be good, much, much better than he'd expected. An Indian in a nice part of the town so not jam packed with noisy drunks and Charles was still sober enough for the smell to make his mouth water. He'd already turned down another drink because he definitely didn't want to be more pissed by the time this so-called award-winning food showed up, whatever the fuck that was, even though right at that moment he was so hungry he'd settle for edible. When he'd been sitting on the sofa with Molly he'd toyed with the idea of asking her if she'd like to eat with him, with them, but had then rapidly dismissed it as not one of the best he'd ever had. To carry on talking to her would have made his evening, but inviting her would have meant inviting the others and sitting with them in the restaurant while attempting to have a quiet meal, at least with the ones that weren't out cold under the table, was not a particularly attractive proposition.

Eddie had lost a great deal of his hair since Charles had last seen him but the dreadful comb-over he was sporting where his hair had gone south was something that Charles thought made him look a whole lot older than the others, in fact, a lot older than he actually was, and the extra weight he was carrying about didn't help much either. It was no doubt a legacy of driving a desk all day and pushing bits of paper about, but he seemed to have appointed himself as group comedian as he started regaling them with a whole load of jokes about having to make the most of it because of only being allowed off the leash for one night … and then out of the blue he turned to Charles and asked how Rebecca was keeping these days. It was the first time anyone had mentioned her and the silence round the table was palpable. Charles felt sorry for the poor sod as his face flushed an interesting shade of purple and beads of sweat started popping out on his forehead, and as someone obviously kicked him hard enough under the table to make him jump like he'd been cattle prodded. Charles smiled and shook his head, wanting to tell him not to worry, and reassure him that it didn't matter but one thing that was evident was that Elvis had filled them in, not that that should have come as a surprise, in fact it would have been far more surprising if Elvis had kept what he knew to himself.

He knew he was being anti-social, well Elvis kept on pointing it out for a start, so Charles had made an effort, he didn't want Eddie to think his careless enquiry had upset him, but he was struggling to think clearly. His mind kept running over and over their conversation and his thoughts kept spinning back to the most glaringly obvious omissions, he hadn't asked her for her number, hadn't put his number in her phone and not once in the whole conversation had either of them volunteered a single word about whether there was anyone waiting at home. So now, he simply didn't know what to think, whether there was someone important in her life. He would have staked his life on her being on her own, she wasn't a Phoebe, but then she was a brilliant little actress, was very good at spinning a line and getting him to believe it … she'd told him with a completely straight face that she loved to cook and garden and, well he'd believed her until he'd asked what sort of cooking and had caught sight of that 'look' on her face again. She'd admitted it the minute he'd challenged her, had said that she'd been having him on and that in fact she'd been known to cremate water, and had never had as much as a window box … but she'd said it because she thought it sounded well posh …and had smirked at him ….. If it had been anyone else he'd probably have been bloody annoyed and would have described it as telling lies, but somehow with her, it didn't seem like that ….. but doubts were starting to creep in.

-OG-

There didn't seem to be much to choose between the clubs, maybe some were bigger and smarter looking than others, but there was a lot of them and they all had one thing in common, they all had long queues outside and a couple of tough looking bouncers on the doors. The four girls had tried three but the queues didn't seem to be moving very quickly, and Molly had begun to moan that she was turning into an ice-pop and would prefer to go back to the hotel, but Phoebe, who was made of sterner stuff as well as still being pissed eventually hit pay dirt. Her simple ruse of flaunting her tits and making veiled promises of being up for a bit of fun later, meant one of the bouncers immediately let them jump the queue, much to the loud disgruntlement of those stuck waiting in the cold. Phoebe was used to the privileged access to the local clubs that was afforded by her status of being the fiancée of the local drug dealer and didn't see why she should wait in a line on her hen night.

As far as Molly could see the place was unbelievably horrible, there was a lot of that smokey stuff floating around so that she couldn't actually see how dirty it was, although she had her suspicions and it smelled of old chip fat and febreze, like when her mum had tried to get the smell of the old fag ash out the carpet. It was packed to the rafters with drunken teenagers grinding against each other; well they all looked bloody young to her anyway.

"Wanna dance?"

He wasn't the first arsehole who'd asked her, maybe it was the way she was standing there wondering whether to just cut her losses and leave the others to it because they seemed to be having an okay time dancing together but she wasn't in the mood. She wasn't enjoying any of it, anymore than she was in the mood to dance with some fifteen year old who was not only spectacularly pissed but had the worst B.O. she'd ever come across, worse than some of the people on the tube, so that the thought of him waving his pits around anywhere near her was enough to make her want to gag.

"Nah, thanks, you're alright"

"Come on" He got hold of her arm and started to pull her towards him "Pretty girl like you shouldn't be standing here all on your own, come and dance with me"

"I said nah, now just piss off, will you?" She shook her arm angrily until he let her go.

"I'll buy you a drink then, what do you want?"

"Nah, I don't want anything, just push off and find someone else to bother ... how old are you anyhow?"

"Old enough" He leered then thrust his groin towards her before stumbling and almost falling over, catching hold of her arm again in an attempt to get closer as she backed away from him, he really did smell atrocious "Come on, what's it going to be?"

"Go ... you heard the lady, she said leave her alone"

Suddenly there was a hand on the back of his neck and he was being hauled back from her by the collar as the voice she'd been listening to for over half the evening cut across the music, only this time there was a lot of quiet menace in the way he held onto the lad and in his voice, as if he meant what he said.

"And go and have a shower while you're at it, you stink"

They watched in silence as the lad tossed his head full of bravado and started to weave his way back into the crowd, intent on finding someone else to take advantage of his charm.

"Thanks ... Where did you come from? Not that I'm not glad to see you or nothin', but.."

"Keeping him out of trouble" Charles nodded his head to indicate Elvis who was draped all over Phoebe as if they'd been separated for years "Supposedly ... but looks like it's you I shouldn't have let out of my sight ..."

-OG-


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: I decided to go for a slow burn rather than a quick shag, but hope it's not too "deep", I didn't want them to go from 'nice to meet you' to 'wham, bam...' in a few hours so that it would be a bit tacky – Thank you for your reviews, I loved them and hope that you enjoy reading this as much as I am enjoying picturing the scenes, walking along the seafront in Brighton will never be the same again for me ..**_

-OG-

Max would have pissed himself laughing if he could have heard him say that. He knew if anyone did that she could eat little boys like that gob-shite for breakfast and would then spit the bones out after, he'd always said that she had more balls than anyone else he'd ever met. But Charlie didn't know that about her and had come rushing to the rescue with his "I'm in charge here, so you just do as you're told and fuck off" voice to the little tosser who was so wasted he'd thought he was in with a chance and it had felt lovely, had made her feel all little and looked after, not titchy, even if she was a bit next to him, but safe. She'd loved it that he'd had made her feel cherished, which was a real novelty, and one she could very easy get used to, not that that was going to happen of course, still it'd been nice ...

The DJ had turned the music up to bloody deafening so that she could barely hear herself think as she just stood there looking at him in complete silence, she had no idea what to say, couldn't think of anything remotely sensible or that wouldn't make her sound a total airhead so she was actually a bit glad that the music was loud enough to make talking tricky, and he was just stood there in front of her, looking at her and rocking backwards and forwards on his heels with his hands in his pockets and saying nothing.

"Come on let's get out of here" He jerked his head to tell her that he'd decided it was time for them to go as if he expected she would just meekly do as she was bloody told and follow him "And you'd better put your shoes on, it's wet outside"

Suddenly he smiled that lovely smile of his again, the one that made the butterflies start cavorting about in her stomach, or maybe they were somewhere a bit lower down than that, shit, she needed to pull herself together. It was getting more and more obvious that it had been far too long since Max and that she was sex-starved, that was all it was, nothing else, she'd been deprived for too long so that even his bossiness was beginning to turn her on for fuck sake, you could tell that he was used to being in charge the way he expected her to just do what he said and not argue or nothing ... and it made her wonder what ... no, it didn't, and she had to stop it.

"I'll have to go and get me stuff ... 'n I need to tell the others, I can't just go"

"Right ... well, go on then what are you waiting for? Crack on"

His tone of voice brought her right back down to earth with a bump from wherever it was she'd been, but it was no bloody good him getting all shitty, impatient bugger, she had to go and find Bella's shoes, she'd actually forgotten she hadn't got them on and she'd have to bloody well find them because Bella would fucking kill her if she lost them, and she'd also need to remember where she'd dumped her jacket. It might have come from the charity shop and be a bit on the ratty side, but it was the only one she'd got and she loved it, and anyhow she couldn't just piss off and not say anything to the girls whatever he thought. They'd worry when they realised she'd disappeared, probably, maybe, well, if they weren't too hammered to even remember that she'd been there in the first place they would.

"And I need the loo, so ..." She shrugged and nodded her head in the direction of Phoebe who was making a drunken exhibition of herself dancing or something with Elvis so that Molly wondered where her hands were and what they were doing "Hey ... shouldn't you tell him that you're leavin'? Thought you was s'posed to be looking out for him"

Charles looked over at Elvis and shook his head, he couldn't see who was holding who upright as they danced, or swayed together on the spot and quite frankly he didn't care, he just hoped that Elvis wouldn't take advantage of the girl.

"Nope, he's a big boy now, he can look after himself"

It seemed he'd lied, either that or he'd forgotten what it was he'd said about just being there to keep an eye on his mate, not that she cared either way, she was just happy that he was there ...

-OG-

Sitting on the loo she was having a lot of difficulty working out what it was exactly she was even thinking, she didn't do one-night stands anymore, not since before Max, and anyhow how the fuck had someone gone from being an up-himself twat to being someone that she just ... would ... in the space of a few hours when she wasn't even that hammered? She'd really wanted him to ask her to dance although whether that would have been a good idea given her current frame of mind was a tiny bit debatable, but he hadn't. She'd wanted to put her arms round him, feel the muscles that were obvious under the shirt, or feel him put his arms round her more like, but then he could be one of those blokes who only dance when they're pissed. Whatever the reason was, he hadn't asked, so there was a strong possibility he didn't feel the same way as she did. Just because she'd changed her mind about him it didn't change anything, he was still too bloody _everything,_ too tall, too, not old exactly, but too grown-up, not to mention too good-looking and too, well, he would never look at someone like her, he was way too far out of her league ... and most probably he was too married, so on the whole it was better that he hadn't asked, she could very well have got a bit carried away and made a total tit of herself.

There was a load of graffiti on the back of the cubicle door, some hearts and flowers and who loves who shit, as well as some stuff she suspected had been written by a gang of girls who'd thought it was well funny to use a sharpie and write as many swear words on it as they could think of when they were hammered, bit like Phoebe really, well without the writing it on the walls.

She really wished she'd put Bella's shoes back on instead of giving them to him to hold while he waited for her; she'd got used to the feel of her bare feet sticking to the floor in the main bit where it was too dark to see what it was she was sticking to exactly, but the lights in the Ladies were enough for her to see how shabby and grubby it was. The floor was soaking with little puddles here and there that she was willing to bet had nothing to do with it being cleaned, it didn't look to her as if it had been done for well, years, and there wasn't any fresh air to help it dry either, just an extractor fan rattling away making a huge bleeding racket. But if it was supposed to be getting rid of the smell it wasn't working, judging by the stink it was more likely sucking air in from the Gents next door, and she supposed she should be grateful that there was some loo roll on the holder because most of it seemed to be on the floor.

One thing she did know was that this club wouldn't be the sort of place he'd pick in a million years, and that she didn't quite believe him what he'd said about being there to watch out that Elvis didn't get in trouble, because if that was true why would he say what he had, it didn't make any sense that he'd said he wanted for them to leave, and that Elvis could just get on with it. So had he come there just for her, or was that her imagination working bleeding overtime again, a bloody great basin of wishful thinking on her part?

Molly had needed the loo but had needed more to go somewhere and check how much of a wreck she looked, but she was surprisingly okay looking bearing in mind how long the evening had been and how much booze she'd shipped not to mention walking on the pier in the wind and drizzle. Her hair was a bit of a mess, all tangles and wild looking and her eye make-up had mostly disappeared along with her lippy, but a bit of a tidy and she wasn't that unhappy, it wasn't exactly brilliant but her cheeks were pink and her eyes were bright so it wasn't that bad either, except it weren't working keep huffing in her hands to see if she had fish and chip breath. She'd been sure there were some breath sweetie things lurking in the bottom of her bag somewhere, but it was Bella's she had not hers and Bella didn't have any truck with that sort of shit, she didn't care, but Molly did. She'd have to keep her head turned away from him and talk out the side of her mouth if she wanted to make sure she wasn't treating him to a blast of vinegar from her chips, and it was probably for the best that there was no hint of him wanting to kiss her ...

-OG-

He'd leant his shoulder against the wall by the exit doors and watched as she disappeared into the Ladies and had done his best to suppress all his unwanted thoughts of just how pretty she was and why he hadn't noticed that at first, and of how tiny and young she looked in her bare feet and jeans as she walked away from him but kept on looking over her shoulder to make sure that he was still there waiting ... and of how much he _liked_ her. He was turning her shoes over and over in his hands as he waited, or rather they weren't hers, she'd apparently borrowed them from her sister to make her tall enough, so that he'd laughed and asked her who the fuck was it that had told her she needed to wear someone else's stupid shoes she couldn't even walk in properly to be _enough_ anything. But she'd just grinned that toothy grin of hers at him, the grin that had irritated the fuck out of him when he'd first seen it, and shrugged, and he'd wanted to tell her that she was perfect just the way she was, that she didn't need to be taller or any different in any way, but didn't.

She was far too young for someone like him, alright maybe not so much in years because she was older than he'd first thought, but he was old and tired and jaded and had already royally fucked things up once ... and she wasn't his type, if he even had one, she wasn't tall or blonde or ... well, she was no Rebecca, and unlike him she was just starting out full of enthusiasm for what she was doing and where she was heading and was enjoying her life. So he was going to be the gentleman his mother thought he was and walk her back to the hotel and say again how lovely it had been to meet her ...

-OG-

He was standing there looking all mean and broody like he was fucked off with waiting for her so that she had this horrible moment when she came down to earth and realised that she'd been sitting in the bog letting her imagination run away with her. Shit, why on earth would someone like him want to have anything to do with someone like her, well, apart from the bleeding obvious, and no matter what she was not going to be a bit of rough for a one nighter for someone like him. She was tatty and common and hadn't even got a decent pair of knickers to her name so that she'd had to have a borrow of her little sister's stuff, but she was worth more than that, even if he had got his lovely grin on his face as soon as he saw her and even if she had found her face grinning back at him and even if she did think that maybe he did like her ... a bit. She was just hoping he wasn't pleased to see her because he was tired of getting the eye from the bunch of girls who were walking up and down by him and giggling, they looked to her like they should be tucked up in their own beds at this time of night, but then the whole bloody place was making her feel ancient. She could just about remember when that had been her, when she used to do the exact same thing as they was doing but it all seemed so long ago now, and if it made her feel old she could only imagine what it was doing to him.

"Come on then, if you're ready let's go"

He didn't say the words 'at last' but he didn't need to, she could hear them in his tone of voice as he held her jacket for her to put her arms in the sleeves and then held her elbow to stop her falling elegantly flat on her face as she put Bella's shoes back on before they ventured outside to get caught up in the crowd of people milling around outside the door. They were all shouting and laughing and pushing one another about so that he instinctively put an arm round her to shield her as they pushed their way through.

"Busy here innit?"

"A bit"

Despite the fact that it was really bloody late, although she didn't know exactly how late it was, and that it was cold and horrible and felt like it was raining in the wind, there were more people around for this time of night than she'd ever seen at home when the pubs turned out on a Friday or Saturday. There was literally a seedy looking club every few yards along the seafront, and they all had the same identical looking crowd of noisy drunks outside and spilling over into the road and no-one seemed to be in any hurry to get off home or were even wearing a coat as far as she could see. Molly wasn't sure whether she was shivering because of it being cold or because she was nervous about him being so close with his arm round her to protect her from ... whatever... although he let go as soon as they were clear of being jostled about so obviously he didn't go in for the tactile shit, hadn't got hold of her hand instead or put his arm back round, which was a bit of a bummer.

"Are you warm enough? Here ..." Even though he'd taken his arm away from her shoulders and with a great effort of will was no longer touching her he could feel she was shivering so stopped to take his jacket off to wrap it around her.

But much as she wanted to feel his warmth she immediately denied that she was cold, said instead that it was just the club had been hot and stuffy so the fresh air had a sort of chilly feel to it, but that she was fine and she didn't need his jacket. She could feel the way he looked at her as if he knew that she was lying through her teeth, but if she let him take his jacket off and give it to her he'd be in his shirt sleeves and then he'd be cold, and then there'd be no way she could prolong this walk, he'd want to get straight back in the warm of the hotel which was just on the other side of the road a bit further up. Although, of course, there was a good chance he'd want to do that anyway, but she didn't. She wanted to keep on walking, so was back to racking her brains and trying to come up with something to talk about that would stop him noticing when they got close to the place ...

"Nearly there"

"Oh yeah so we are" Shit, shit, fucketty shit, it hadn't taken nearly enough time to get back to the bloody hotel and she still hadn't come up with anything to say that would stop them getting to goodnight "What does your wife think about you being here this weekend?" Oh double fuck, where did that come from?

"My what? What? ... I haven't got a wife Molly, well not any more, I've been divorced for a while now" They seemed to have stopped walking and had turned to lean side by side against the railings, and were avoiding looking at each another as they looked at the shingle on the beach instead as though it was fascinating, which it wasn't "Where the fuck did you get the idea that I was married anyway, and was ... what here for the weekend ... looking for ... what exactly?"

"Nah, I never thought ... anything like that" There was no point in pretending she didn't know what he was talking about, but as far as Molly was concerned this felt like a really good time to lie, because that was exactly what she'd been thinking, that he was a married man on the look-out for a fling with somebody, that was definitely what Elvis was up to, although she had the feeling that he wasn't married "Dunno why I said it really" She was still lying "I'm sorry, I just thought ... dunno what I thought, sorry"

"No, I'm the one who's sorry, she, Rebecca, my wife, my ex-wife went a long time ago and as Elvis keeps telling me it's time I got over it ... and he's right, it is and I am"

As he heard himself say the words, he could hear there was a ring of truth in what he was saying, there had been a definite shift in the way he thought about the past, about what had happened with Rebecca and that even though it still felt like he'd failed at something fundamental, it was time to face reality that he'd been living in regret about something that hadn't ever really existed, or even if it had, it was now long dead and gone.

"Yeah well, Elvis is a knob inne?"

"Indeed, but in this case he's probably right"

"Sorry, you don't have to tell me you know, it's none of my business is it?"

"I fucked up, I thought that if you loved someone and were married to them it meant you worked things out, I mean she wasn't happy and I knew it, I was no bloody good at the life she wanted, I liked being in the army, it was all I'd ever wanted, and she hated it. But I didn't expect to get back from tour on a Friday night and for the removal people to turn up on Saturday morning ... she said there was no point in talking about it anymore and that she was going ... and she did"

"Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to, well ... sorry"

"Hey, don't worry about it, it's okay, it was a long time ago now"

"I'm not worrying"

Except of course, she was. They'd been standing just about close enough for him to be able to nudge her with his shoulder without moving his feet, although they hadn't actually been touching, but she badly wanted to put an arm round his waist where it was so tantalisingly close to her and give him a little hug, a squeeze to see if she could put that smile back on his face, well make him feel better anyway. The last thing she'd wanted was to put a bloody downer on everything the way she had.

-OG-


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Another long chapter, not too long I hope, but I keep on telling myself we've got a lot of ground to cover - Thank you for the reviews and the feedback – hope you enjoy this – the next chapter is underway ...**_

"I'm sorry, should mind me own business, shouldn't I? I know that, people are always telling me that I'm a nosy cow, sorry"

No-one had ever said anything like that to her of course, well not to her face anyway, but Molly was making a huge and not altogether successful attempt to think on her feet, because as usual when she'd had a couple of drinks her mouth seemed to be saying stuff without the benefit of her brain being engaged. It sounded as if she was making excuses, and even to her own ears they'd sounded lame, but Max used to say she was like a fruit machine when she'd been drinking so that it was anyone's guess what she was going to come out with next. But it didn't stop her being desperate to find something to talk about that wouldn't make him turn back into Mr Miserable Git and fuck off to the hotel just to get away from her.

"Don't be silly ... you weren't being nosy"

Un-fucking-believable. He'd spent all that time worrying about how to say "fuck off and mind your own business" to people he'd known for years without terminally offending anyone but had just talked about all the crap that was his life with some little girl he'd barely even met. She was a girl who intrigued him because she was so obviously clever, but for some reason she kept on putting herself down almost as if she was determined to get in before anyone else did, a girl that he'd begun to find incredibly attractive in a way that no-one else had for a long, long time, she was funny and was very cute, and wanted everyone to think she was tough ... but was vulnerable so that he wanted to look after her and she had a beautiful smile, even if had irritated the fuck out of him when they'd first met. Why, he couldn't say, he didn't know, because that smile together with her green eyes, had acted like some sort of truth drug on him ... but she was a stranger ... he'd known her for, what, a couple of hours at the most ...

At least he hadn't got to the worst bits of that weekend, the shit that had followed on from Rebecca's dramatics, which was something to be grateful for, nor had he mentioned Sammie ... but he still didn't know what the fuck had possessed him ... and to cap it all and despite what he'd told her over and over, she'd called him Charlie again ...

-OG-

"Oi Charlie, can you slow down a bit .. please"

She grabbed his arm and tugged it with both hands as she tried to get him to remember that she hadn't got long legs like his, and the way he'd been striding along meant she was being forced to break into little skips and jogs as she tried to keep up with him, not the easiest to do in Bella's shoes.

"Oh, sorry"

He immediately grimaced in apology before he smiled and shrugged his shoulders, giving a rueful little laugh as though he'd been miles away thinking about something else, which she thought he probably had, that there was every chance he'd been thinking about the wife who'd pissed off and left him like that, Rebecca, that was what he'd said her name was and she didn't think she liked the sound of Rebecca very much, but then she liked him so that made it a bit hard to be fair to some woman she didn't even know. It was just that she bloody hated people who were unkind, and thingy, whatsitsname, Rebecca, sounded a lot unkind to her.

His face had been totally devoid of expression as he'd belted along like a bat out of hell, he wasn't giving anything away at all as he'd stared straight ahead with just the odd little glance at where he could hear the sea shifting the shingle about, even if it was too dark to see anything.

"I'm sorry, I'm out of practice ... and I bloody forgot you can't walk in those shoes ... sorry"

"Out of practice? What, at walking? That's a bit shit innit, bloody awkward I should think, unless you drive everywhere of course ..." He ignored her lame attempt to be funny so she shut up before she said anything else stupid "Who said I can't walk in these shoes? Course I can"

She had a feeling that what he'd just said was a slip of the tongue and that he was out of practice because of his wife used to wear killer heels like the ones she had on, and that was why he used to walk slower. She was seriously tempted to ask him if she'd got it right, but then on the whole thought perhaps not, it was beginning to nark her that he'd probably been thinking about her, about Rebecca and that, because in Molly's considered opinion there'd been more than enough chat about Rebecca for one evening.

"Really, can you? ... I'm yet to be convinced"

"Cheeky whatsit, I'm walking now aren't I?

He didn't say anything else, obviously didn't intend to enter into another debate about whether or not she should be wearing Bella's shoes, just laughed instead and casually slid an arm across her shoulders, then lifted her hair away from her neck and rested his hand on the back of it before he moved his thumb and started to stroke the skin behind her ear. Her entire body was immediately covered in goose-bumps as the cavorting butterflies turned up in the pit of her stomach again and started to do a break-dance, which made it bloody hard for her to breathe normally, and the more she thought about it the more she didn't know what to do with all the excess breath that she suddenly had. His hand felt like it was burning where it was touching her neck so that she had to stop thinking and shift all her focus onto not angling her head towards where his thumb was stroking.

"How did you know where to look for us? There's bleeding hundreds of places along here ..." She could hear how bloody odd she sounded, all breathy and weird so that she stopped talking and took a deep breath, waving her arm about and indicating the lights and the loud music that was spilling out into the night and the crowds milling about on the other side of the road "How many of these places did you have to check before you found the right one?"

"Didn't need to check any at all, Elvis being Special Forces is extremely useful sometimes"

"What? What does that even mean? _Special forces?_ You saying he's a spy or something, is that what you're trying to tell me?"

She didn't believe him because she couldn't see it herself that Elvis was a special anything, but if by some _remote_ chance Charles was telling the truth and not winding her up and bloody Elvis was some sort of superhero or a spy or something with magic powers, which as far as she could see was very, very unlikely, it still didn't explain how the fuck any of that had helped them find the right club, it didn't make sense.

"Are you taking the piss?"

"Me? Of course not, why would I?"

He couldn't help himself and snorted a laugh that showed her that he was indeed, a bit, something that gave her the excuse she'd been waiting for ever since he'd put his arm round her and slid her arm round his waist, feeling him jump as she dug her fingers into his side and then moved to loop them through his belt where it sat above his hips, allowing her to rest her hand on the top of his bum.

"Or it might have had more to do with the text your mate sent telling him where you were"

"Funny man"

"I do my best"

"It was bloody 'orrible in there wasn't it?"

"What, you didn't like it?"

"Couldn't you tell? Nah, I don't like when they're full of boozed up kids who either get in fights or throw up or where the DJ is some sad fucker who's trying to pretend he's twenty one so puts his hat on back to front and plays the music so loud you can't think ... I usually give them a miss. It's different for Phoebe, it's where her bloke does most of his business, you know, where he buys and sells stuff, think that it's what they call retailing ... but not exactly legal 'n she goes with him all the time. Usually I've got Uni stuff to do at the weekend anyway, you know, homework 'n that ... and I work in a shop 'n all so ... got to earn some money somewhere so I can eat"

"I thought you lived at home"

"Yeah I do, but still ... "

Molly had absolutely no intention of going into an in-depth explanation of the Dawes family economic situation with him, so whether she was aware of it or not, the sharp tone in her voice shut the topic of conversation abruptly, giving him a very clear message that the topic wasn't open for further discussion.

"Doesn't your boyfriend take you?"

"Nah, haven't got one, have I? Not any more I haven't ... he fucked off home a while back ... he lives in Melbourne, so it'd be a bit hard for him to nip over and take me clubbing ... and I didn't wanna go when he wanted, so ... it was the wrong time" Great, Molly knew she'd just made it sound like she couldn't go because she'd had her period or something so now had to fight her urge to giggle "It weren't his fault, just bad timing, wasn't mine either, it was just, you know ... but ... well, I'd thought that in a couple of years or whenever, when I'd finished anyway..."

There was a real temptation to tell him how it had really been, to show him he didn't have a monopoly on fucking things up, she had as well or maybe Max had, one of them had anyway, or both of them, it was hard to tell now who was most to blame for them falling to bits the way they had. At the time she'd believed she was in the right, but later after he'd gone and she'd been a bit lonely without him she realised that it didn't really matter who'd been right. All that shit with his visa had come just when she'd worked her bloody arse off to get to her goal, and he couldn't renew it or he didn't want to more like, he'd wanted to go home and to give him his due he really had wanted her to go with him, but it wasn't what she'd wanted, so in the end he'd gone and she'd moved back in with the family.

He'd said it was because she didn't care enough and that if she had she'd have at least looked if there was a chance of getting in Uni over there, but she'd only just finished the bloody access course and got herself a place, and getting that far had been a sodding miracle on its own. When she was at school, not that she was there that often, but when she was she was one of the cool kids and being cool at her school had meant wagging and being dead rude and disrespectful, and Max had just expected her to give up everything she'd worked for, and she couldn't, alright she wouldn't. To start with he'd been hurt, and then angry and then he'd accused her of not loving him ... but she'd thought it was the other way round and it was him hadn't loved her enough, because if he had, he'd of stayed.

"Do you still hear from him, keep in touch?"

"Nah, I sort of meant for it to be like that, you know, all keeping in touch and being reasonable and ... staying in each other's lives cos we'd been together for ages and it seemed all wrong to be _hostile_ with each other but in the end that's not quite how it happened, I might of sort of lost it a bit instead, screamed and shouted a bit and started throwing shit at him ... are you laughing? I don't mean actual shit ... stop bleeding laughing, it's not funny"

"I know, and I'm not laughing, of course it's not funny"

She could feel him laughing even though he'd denied it and hadn't made a sound, but his whole body was shaking with it so that she began having to bite her bottom lip in a vain attempt not to join in.

"Called him a selfish fucker didn't I, told him I didn't know anything about kanga-bloody-roos or Kyle Minogue, and I didn't want to neither, so nah, it didn't go as well as it could have done and ... strange I know, but he don't ring"

He could no longer hide that he was laughing, not at the situation because that hadn't been in the least bit funny for her, but at the way she was describing what had happened. His laughter set her off, but in his case there was a huge element of relief in the laughter that had bubbled up inside him and that he'd been struggling so hard to control. He'd known, or thought he had, what her answer was going to be and that there wasn't some boyfriend tucked away at home, although there had still been that tiny element of doubt that had been fed as usual by his misgivings and mistrust, but he hadn't believed for a single second that she was anything like her mate Phoebe. He'd been completely certain there wasn't some poor unsuspecting sod sitting waiting for her and that she wasn't betraying someone's trust like the girl he'd last seen dry humping Elvis on a crowded dance floor, so that any trust her fiancé had in her was thoroughly misplaced.

"How about you?"

"How about me, what? I don't do anything that could be described as not exactly legal if that's what you're asking"

"Nah, that wasn't what I meant and you know it, I meant do you like clubbing, not that sort of club obviously cos it was a bit shit, but ... others?"

She was at a loss to explain exactly what sort of clubs she was talking about, she wasn't even sure herself so didn't try and hoped he wouldn't ask, but it felt like a _safe_ topic of conversation even if he'd probably think it was a bit boring but she was sure he was too polite to ask her what the fuck she was talking about and what it had to do with anything whether or not he liked going to clubs.

"Not really, I used to, but I think I'm getting too old now" He threw his head back and shouted with the renewed laughter he'd only just got under control "They're cruel sensory torture chambers"

"Yeah, sure you're right ... whatever it was you just said"

-OG-

They were strolling slowly in a companionable silence, not strained like it had been, not as far as Molly was concerned anyway because she was no longer desperately looking for something to talk to him about, and they were no longer rushing to put out a fire somewhere either, but his arm was still round her shoulders so that she moved her fingers again from where she'd looped them through his belt and curled them back into his side, digging them in gently under his ribs and was rewarded by a quick glance down at her face and a smirk.

"Bet it's well nice here when the sun's out 'n that"

"Yup ... Tell you what, we can check it out first thing tomorrow, can go for a run along here and get some lovely fresh sea air ... without the smell of the onions from the burger vans ... and without a bunch of bloody drunks for company" He appeared to think for a minute "That's if you like running, do you?"

"Yeah, used to, beats going to the gym" That was something else she didn't do any more, along with still going out running without Max to go with her "I haven't for a while ... though I still run for a bus sometimes" She was too busy analysing what he'd actually said to think of a proper reply, she wasn't entirely sure she'd heard him correctly "We? As in ... what ... you ... and me?"

"Of course you and me, who did you think I meant? I'm not asking them am I?"

He nodded his head and shot an extremely jaundiced look in the direction of a bunch of teenagers making their very noisy and drunken way down the pavement on the other side of the road... pushing and shoving each other as they yelled obscenities at the tops of their voices.

"Okay ... hey, hang on just a second Mr Army ... what do you mean by first thing, exactly?"

"Well, not that early, seven? Half-past?"

"In the morning? On a Sunday? Are you bleeding nuts? Nah, you can't mean that, no-one gets up that time on a Sunday when they don't have to"

"You'll see, you'll enjoy it, it's the best bit of the day"

"You're nuttier than squirrel shit, you know that don't you?"

"What did you just call me?"

"Nothin'"

-OG-

Eventually it was obvious that they'd walked far enough along the seafront to be getting to where they'd have to turn and walk back the way they'd come and for Molly's feet it couldn't come quickly enough. They were absolutely bloody killing her and if it hadn't been for his comment about doubting her ability to walk in Bella's shoes she'd have let him see that she was near hobbling or would have given in and taken them off and been walking barefoot.

They'd slowed to a stop in some sort of silent mutual agreement that it was time to turn and walk back as she reached across him and took hold of his wrist to turn his watch and see what time it was, but somehow from somewhere she got the feeling that you get when you know that someone is going to kiss you. He said nothing, just took the hand that had moved his watch and put it up against his, comparing the size of her small hand against his much larger one, then wove his fingers through hers, looking at her all the time with an expression she hadn't seen on anyone's face for just about forever. A look that said he really, really liked her.

She knew that he'd had a lot to drink, although probably far less than she had, but it didn't feel like that had anything to do with it as she looked up at him, at the eyes that were the exact colour of melted chocolate and were gazing into hers, and couldn't help it, she started to shiver. For the second time during their walk he pulled off his jacket but this time it was different as she let him wrap it round her and didn't argue about whether or not she was cold as he pulled on the lapels of the jacket and moved her closer to him, then brushed his lips very lightly across hers.

He just kept looking at her as she looked at him in a bubble of stunned silence. He hesitated slightly, maybe to give her a chance to push him away or to scream pervert or rapist or something, but she wanted him to kiss her, more than she'd wanted anyone to kiss her for a very long time, if ever, and that tiny brush of his lips had made her insides melt like she was dissolving in a hot cup of tea.

After what felt like another lifetime of just standing and looking into each other's eyes without saying a word, he moved his hand and cradled the back of her head, held it still as he bent and kissed her as if he'd kissed her a thousand times before, and as if he knew her through and through, lips brushing against hers as he nipped and sipped at her mouth and then touched his tongue fleetingly on the middle of her bottom lip to tell her, ask her, to open her mouth for him to deepen the kiss.

-OG-


	6. Chapter 6

He was nowhere near drunk but couldn't even explain it to himself so that it made sense, but in one way or another she'd been getting under his skin ever since she'd done her best to cripple him with that pink case of hers.

The one thing he did know was that she was nothing like the stream of girls his mother had taken to parading in front of him at every opportunity once she'd kindly allowed what she considered a decent interval to elapse since his divorce, and he was pretty sure that Molly wouldn't be the kind of girl his mother had envisaged when she embarked on her series of well-meant but bloody tedious lectures about him moving on. It wasn't that she was a snob, more that she had a host of friends in the Bath branch of the W.I. or whatever other groups of women she belonged to, that all seemed to have single daughters or daughters who were divorced, like him, but who were, unlike him, on the prowl. Girls who were apparently suitable, who came from the right kind of backgrounds and had the right kind of accents, but who all reminded him of Rebecca, so why the hell his mother thought they were likely to appeal was beyond him. Anyway, not one had ever even come close to making him feel the way this girl did on a damp and chilly night in Brighton.

The smell of her hair and the feel of her skin when he'd touched her neck, the way she'd immediately angled her head towards his hand when he'd stroked the vulnerable place behind her ear with his thumb, and then the way she'd tried to disguise it, how luminous her green eyes were when she'd gazed at him and the way that she'd laughed and had made him laugh over and over again all evening, every single bloody thing about her was turning him on. Her scent was nothing like the musky, heavy sexy perfume that used to cling to Rebecca like a miasma, a perfume that had cost him a small bloody fortune every few months and had been designed to hit any male over the bollocks when he got within sniffing distance, but the scent that surrounded Molly was light and flowery and likely to drive him insane as he bent his head and brushed his lips across hers, involuntarily closing his eyes in an attempt to control his body's response to the feel of her lips on his.

As soon as he'd put the tip of his tongue on her lip to get her to open her mouth for him she'd done it, had parted her lips because there hadn't been a question in her head or her heart or whichever bit of her was making the decisions whether it was what she wanted, she did, and as soon as he'd felt her open her mouth slightly he'd tilted his head to deepen the pressure of the kiss, then moved the tip of his tongue gently against hers in a slow rhythm as if it was dancing. She could hear herself making embarrassing little whimpering noises so it sounded like she was begging for more, which she wasn't, not really, as he slid his hand to her cheek and stroked gently down her face with his thumb, tucking her hair back behind her ear as he did it, so that she screwed her eyes tightly shut. She wanted very badly to close the gap still between them, to feel his body touching hers so put her hands in his hair and tangled her fingers in his curls to do what she could to try and pull him towards her and didn't care that they were still standing in plain view of the world or that they'd acquired an interested audience who'd stopped making their way to wherever it was they'd been going, so they could watch and yell encouragement, cat-calling and whistling at them from the other side of the road. But then, she wouldn't have cared who it was watching or how much they were yelling as long as it didn't stop him from doing what he was doing.

All those stupid promises she'd made to herself when she'd been sitting in that terrible tatty lav in that awful bloody club about how she was too good for a one-nighter seemed a bit on the ridiculous side now when all she wanted was to get close enough to feel him, to run her hands over his arms and trace the muscles on his chest and his back which were dead obvious now that he was in his shirt sleeves. He felt to her like he bloody lived in a gym, which was more than she did, she'd hardly been in the last year, or actually since Max, and it wouldn't have taken a bloody genius either to work out that her desire to get closer to him was mutual, now he'd stopped trying to avoid her knowing just how much he wanted her, about as much as she wanted him by the feel of it now he'd pulled her against him to kiss her over and over again.

When Max had gone and she'd been left on her own for the first time in just about forever and didn't want to be, she'd tried to persuade herself that him going was no loss and that there was a whole world of blokes out there for the picking, so she'd be the first one to admit that she'd kissed a lot of frogs as she looked for a new Prince Charming, or at least for someone she could make do with, even if he wasn't going to be her soul mate. But all of them, without exception, had had something that didn't do it for her, not even so she'd be part of a couple again like she wanted, and after a bit she'd given up on the shopping around. There was no bloody way she was ever going to let the one with a tongue like a slug shove it in her gob again, or the arsehole who'd thought it made him macho if he kissed her like he was giving her mouth to mouth when she hardly knew him, or the one who was so bloody wet and slobbery that he'd made her shudder and wipe the back of her hand over her face when he'd finished spreading spit all over, she couldn't help it but then she hadn't cared enough to bother to try and hide it either. She hadn't found anyone that she fancied enough for even a second kiss let alone to actually jump into bed with any of them, the thought of it had made her skin crawl ... until now ... and now ... everything had changed. She wanted to sleep with him, there was no question in her mind about it, and it didn't seem to matter that it was probably going to be just the once, maybe it should make a difference but it didn't, even if realistically it was bloody unlikely to be anything else when they were so far apart, not only where they lived, but he was well out of her league in every other way as well, but whatever, it didn't matter, she'd just deal with it ...

-OG-

"I should go"

"What?"

They'd been leaning up against the wall outside her door as he'd kissed her, or she'd kissed him, she wasn't entirely sure which one had started it again, just like she wasn't sure why they were still outside the bloody door when she'd found the key card and put it in the lock so that by now it should be closed with them on the inside. His hands on her hips were holding her tightly against him as hers stroked the smooth arc of his bum and pulled him towards her so she could press herself against the impressive hardness she could feel through their clothes, but all this hanging about in the corridor seemed a bit of a backward step to her, she didn't get it why they weren't in there already stripping their clothes off. Then the hands on her hips lifted her up a bit and shifted her away from him so that he was no longer touching her with any bit of his body at all, and then she thought she heard him say that he wanted to go, that he'd changed his mind and didn't want to be with her after all, but he couldn't possibly have said that, she had to have misunderstood because how could he be kissing her like that one minute and the next be standing there telling her that he wanted to call a halt. What the fuck had changed?

"Sorry, I thought you just said ... But I thought ... I thought you ... did you, is that what you said?"

"Yes ... ... I'm sorry, I don't want to go Molly, you know that, but what I want to do and what I should do are two very different things ..."

He shook his head and tugged at the hair on the back of his neck, then gnawed at his bottom lip and stroked one finger down her cheek, forcing a smile to his lips at the appalled expression that appeared fleetingly on her face before she turned away from his gaze and looked over his shoulder, desperate to avoid eye contact, she was embarrassed as fuck and didn't want him to see how humiliating this was.

"I should go ... I'll see you in the morning, in the lobby ... 7.00? ... Oh, and don't be late"

"Yeah, right ... okay, yeah you're right, course you are ... ?"

She didn't mean a word of it, of course he wasn't right, but she wanted to tell him to fuck right off and leave her alone, there was no way she was going to stand there and beg him to tell her what the fuck he was playing at, the least she could do was keep hold of some tiny remnant of her tattered pride.

"I'm sorry ... but it is the right thing for me to do ..." He'd seen the look that had flashed across her face before the shutters had come down and she'd shrugged her shoulders, giving him a small tight smile and trying for all the world to look as though she didn't give a flying fuck one way or the other so that he was desperately tempted to say he'd changed his mind but knew he that he mustn't "I'm sorry, I'll see you in the morning"

And then he was gone, striding away from her and ignoring the lifts in favour of the stairwell, which as far as she was concerned, made it even more obvious how anxious he was to get away from her as quickly as he could, he obviously didn't want to waste time having to wait for the lift. He turned his head to look back over his shoulder when he got to the fire doors, he wanted to check if she'd got into her room okay, but she was still standing there staring at him, mainly because she couldn't quite believe what had just happened and half-expected him to turn round and come back. But he didn't. He just turned and walked backwards through the doors, pushing them open with his bum and disappearing in totally the wrong direction as far as she was concerned, away from her not towards her, and he still had that stupid bloody smirk on his face, obviously completely unaware that the look on hers was one of sheer disbelief as he popped his head back through to call after her just as she got her door open...

"Oh, and lose the stilettos, okay?"

-OG-

Bastard. Pig. Piggin' baaaaastard. Shittin' piggin' bastard.

Molly leaned back against the inside of the door and kicked off the dreaded stilettos in a display of temper, sending them flying across the room before she ran and face-planted herself on the bed shouting every rude name she could think of, although there wasn't a lot of variety in it, she was too angry to be creative. The one thing she did know was that she wasn't going to cry, she was bloody furious with him, fucking up-himself miserable git, bloody tease, but she was not upset, well not very anyway, just the normal common or garden _rejected_ sort of upset. But if he thought for even one minute she was going to meet him in the morning for them to go running together, he had another bloody think coming to him, and how bloody dare he tell her not to be late, who was he to tell her anything, still she wasn't going running anyway, she was going to be tucked up in her bed at 7.00, thanks very much, and anyhow she didn't want to set eyes on him ever again, not after he'd made her feel like she was a cat on heat who'd been trying to come onto him. No bloody way.

Her jeans and Bella's black top ended up in a crumpled heap on the floor where she tossed them on top of Bella's shoes and had then pulled back the covers and got in the bed, clicking off the light and burying herself under the blankets, at the same time muttering angrily about how the poxy place hadn't even got a bloody duvet. She was still wearing her knickers and bra and hadn't even bothered about washing her face or brushing her teeth, she didn't want to go in the bathroom and see herself in the mirror, face just how unbelievably stupid she'd been and just what a tit she'd made of herself, or as Nan would say, what a prannet she was.

Ten minutes of muttering and thrashing about and telling herself to forget him, that he wasn't worth it and that what she'd felt was deceptive and that he most likely had a tiny little dick, and then trying to switch off her head and get comfortable, it occurred to her that if by any chance he did change his mind and come back, she was a skank with an unwashed face and stinky breath, and come to think of it, that might be why he'd run a mile. So she got out of bed to wash and to brush her teeth and then looked in the mirror to tell herself that it didn't matter anyway because even if he did knock there was no way she was letting him in, she would just tell him to fuck right off.

Eventually she must have given up waiting to hear someone knock, although she didn't know that that was what she'd done at the time, but had just drifted off into a dreamless sleep... And now, even though she'd meant what she'd said about not going to meet him, she was looking at herself in an agony of indecision about whether the shorts she'd bought with her to sleep in, the ones that she'd just put on that were a couple of washes away from being a pile of string, were decent enough to go out running in even though she was sure you could see the cheeks of her arse through them, well a bit anyway. But she wasn't going to wear jeans to go running, she didn't want to end up with sore sweaty thighs and she hadn't got anything else more suitable with her. It was bad enough that she wasn't altogether sure how fresh her sports bra was, she'd worn it under her West Ham shirt to travel the day before and couldn't tell from repeated sniffing at it whether it smelled a bit off or not, still it would have to do because her tank was minimal to say the least and she wasn't going to wear a lace bra under that, the lace would give the whole world a show, and anyhow it would rub and give her sore nipples.

Anyway, it didn't really matter one way or the other because she'd got no intention of getting close enough to him for him to smell her bra, just because she'd woken up and decided she would go out for a run with him it didn't mean that anything had changed, she hadn't forgiven or forgotten.

-OG-

7.08 and still no bloody sign of her as he checked his watch and tapped the face with impatient fingers for the umpteenth time since he'd got down to the lobby early in case she'd come down already and was waiting for him. He'd been pacing backwards and forwards ever since and weighing up in his head whether he should go up to her room and see if she was nearly ready, or whether, as he was beginning to think was highly likely, she'd blown him out completely. After a fairly restless and sleepless night, he was tired and dissatisfied with himself and was pretty sure that despite having what he'd thought of as good reasons at the time, he'd made a massive error of judgement the night before.

"Nice of you to wait for me Charlie, you didn't have to you know, I would have caught you up, probably overtaken you, but I'm here now so what are we waiting for? Let's get going"

"What?"

"Out of the door? Go for a run? That is what you're doing down here dressed like that at this time on a Sunday, isn't it?"

"Yep ... nope, I'm not going out for a run with you"

Elvis sniggered slightly and slung an arm round Charles' shoulder before fishing his trademark sunglasses out of the top pocket of his polo shirt and waving them around before putting them on.

"Waiting for someone else then are you? Wouldn't be someone small, pretty with dark hair, sexy looking, by any chance?"

"I don't know what you're talking about?"

"That means you didn't then?"

"Didn't what? Oh fuck off, Elvis, you're not a bit funny, we haven't all got the morals of a tom cat"

"Just as I thought, you didn't, well in that case you won't want me to tell you who's standing by the desk over there waiting for something ... or for someone, will you?"

Elvis sniggered again as Charles spun round to scan the lobby looking to see if it was just another Elvis wind-up, but she was there, standing looking anxious and rocking backwards and forwards on the outside edges of her trainers, then immediately looked in the other direction pretending she hadn't even noticed him when she saw him catch sight of her. It wasn't exactly the beaming smile of welcome he would have liked, in fact it didn't bode well for him being able to re-establish the easy camaraderie they'd had the evening before, before it had gone to shit anyway, but still at least she'd turned up which was the first step.

"Maybe I should go over and ask her if she'd like to keep me company on a run?"

"You do and you're dead, and anyway I have it on very good authority that she wouldn't do anything with you"

"Talked about me then have you?"

"Get stuffed"

-OG-

 **A/N: Apologies to anyone who expected them to jump into the nearest bed which I'd sort of gone with originally, but when I read it back it felt to me as if he came across as a predator and that isn't the way I see him so ... Thank you for your feedback and your reviews, they are massively important to me and I simply can't put into words how much they mean.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I know that this is another long one, but I do hope that you enjoy it, and for those who are waiting for the bonking to start, all I'll say is that waiting out can be fun as well. Thank you so much for taking the time to review for me, you know how important your feedback is to me, so please carry on if you can bear to.**

-OG-

Bella had told her over and over that her bloody habit of rocking about on her shoes was a dead giveaway when she was a bit strung up about something, but she didn't even know that she was doing it most of the time but sometimes, like now, she couldn't help it, she hadn't bargained on it being so hard to pretend that she didn't give a shit. After all it hadn't been her played someone and then turned round and made a fool out of them, that had been him, so why should it be her felt awkward? But she did.

He looked so different out of his suit, taller somehow even though he'd towered over her before, and sort of ... more ... well she wasn't sure more what, but she could see that with all that dark stubble on his chin where he hadn't bothered to have a shave, his teeth looked even whiter than they had before when he smiled, and it was the same fucking smile that had done for her the night before, the one she'd thought was so attractive when they were squashed up together on that sofa ... before she'd started to get to know him, not that she did, not really, but before she'd found out exactly what an arse he really was. But making up her mind to show someone that they don't matter and being able to do it were two different things when even watching him say something to dickhead and start to walk towards her with this huge bloody smirk on his face turned her insides to jelly. He looked so fucking _comfortable_ in his own skin as though he was dead pleased with himself so that she wanted to slap him, hard, but knew it was mainly that it was her that had well and truly fucked up when she'd refused to listen to the voice in her head telling her it was a mistake and she should stop in bed. Nothing had changed from the night before, except it was far too bloody late to just turn round and go back, he was bound to think she was hiding from him or something.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah ... why wouldn't I be?"

The smile and look on his face made it look like he was pretending he really cared about how she felt, but he was wasting his bloody time if he was trying to be nice, all she wanted was to wipe that smirk off his gob without her ending up bursting into floods like she always did when she lost it with someone who'd hurt her. Right now she couldn't even think of what to say when his mate was still hanging about like a bad smell, and even trying to think of something 'clever' was making her eyes prickle, although it probably wouldn't matter to him but the last thing she wanted was to look a complete Muppet in front of everyone, him, his dickhead mate and that snotty cow on the desk who was looking at him like that and pretending she wasn't ...

The superhero with the shades couldn't possibly be waiting for Phoebe because she wouldn't be going running, she wouldn't be out of bed for bloody hours and anyway she always said exercise that wasn't sex was a complete waste of time and energy, and knowing Phoebes, she'd most likely already done that with him, so Molly wasn't sure what it was he was still hanging about for. But if he was thinking of joining her and Posh Twat for a run then she was definitely going back to bed, or to find food because she was bloody hungry, she seemed to have the hangover munchies without the actual hangover for some reason, and the only thing stopping her from saying she'd changed her mind and going in search of chocolate instead was that she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of her wimping out.

"I wasn't sure that you'd be here ... "

"Why wouldn't I be?"

She shrugged and tried hard to look as if she hadn't got the faintest idea what he was even talking about. Who did he think he was, bloody smiling at her like that and saying he hadn't expected her to turn up?

"Listen ... Molly ... I am sorry that things got a bit ... tricky ... last night, I didn't mean for that to happen"

"What? Nah, don't worry about it mate, already forgotten innit?"

TRICKY? She was actually quite pleased with her answer, should maybe look at joining the Diplomatic people or something, it was the sort of thing she'd normally come up with hours after when she was busy replaying something in her head, even if she did still want to shout at him and ask him whether 'tricky' was what posh scumbags call it when they make a complete idiot out of someone.

"Anyhow, come on then if we're going"

"Right ... okay, well ... yup ... we'll crack on then if you're ready, I'm glad to see you've lost the stilettos by the way"

Shit, one look at the expression on her face and he knew that it hadn't been his brightest moment, he shouldn't have tried to be funny.

"Joke?"

"Oh right, yeah, good 'un"

Despite what she'd said there was no hint of a smile, just a scathing look and then a tightening of the elastic band in her hair with both hands before she focussed all her attention on the other side of the room and studiously avoided meeting his eyes. But even with that 'why don't you just fuck off and die' expression on her face he still thought she was the most appealing girl he'd ever met, she was adorably disgruntled and rumpled in her tight red top with the black bra under it and a pair of shorts that had definitely seen better days but which were giving him the odd glimpse of skin when she moved and were sexy as hell. Given a choice he would far rather forget all about going out for any run, would miles prefer to put his arms round her and kiss that truculent expression off her face instead, to see it light up when she smiled at him with those beautiful big green eyes of hers brim full of ... laughter ... and affection, and more than anything he wanted to beg her to let them turn the clock back.

But every bit of her body language screamed at him that he was a very, very long way away from forgiven and included an implicit warning that if he got too close she was liable to slap him into the middle of next week, and that it might be an extremely smart move on his part if he stopped thinking with his dick because the way he was going he was going to end up with a tent, either way he was close to making a complete bloody spectacle of himself.

-OG-

As they waited to cross the road Molly was watching the steady stream of traffic and wondering where the fuck it all came from at that time on a Sunday when sensible people were tucked up in bed, but was determined not to say anything and be the first to break the silence, any more than she wanted to admit he'd been right when he'd said it would be lovely on the seafront with the sun out. It all looked totally different and she felt, well, she couldn't help feeling a little bit happy as she breathed in the saltiness of the sea air rather than the stink of a burger van, something that had her wanting to smile at the world, and in spite of everything, at him. But just because she suddenly felt a bit glad to be alive it didn't mean she wanted to make him feel the same.

The sky was a beautiful blue as if it had been washed to get rid of the clouds and the sea was this mass of brilliant sparkles of sunshine glinting off it and although the breeze blowing off the sea wasn't exactly warm, it wasn't that cold either and everything smelled lovely, all clean and fresh. Even the path had been washed by the big tractor cleaning thing she could see trundling along in the distance so there was no sign of any mess left behind from the previous night.

She was tempted to break the silence and ask him whether he was expecting her to stand to attention or salute or something, or even to do all that 'Yes Sir" shit when he jerked his head without saying anything to show her which way he wanted them to go but hoped for his sake that he wasn't holding his breath because none of that was going to happen, not in a million years. On the other hand she couldn't actually be arsed to argue about it either, it really didn't matter that much except for the little bit of her that wanted to be bloody awkward and even that didn't seem worth the effort.

-OG-

He rested one foot on the railing and then swapped them over as she watched him do all that stretching and warming up crap and kept on raising his eyebrows at her in some sort of silent question. She had some vague memory of someone somewhere once telling her that the exercises were a good idea for some reason she seemed to have forgotten, but her and Max had never bothered. He'd always said they were for girlie girls and wimps and she had no intention whatsoever of starting now, she wasn't even sure how to do them properly and definitely wasn't going to let him see that, and anyway while she might not be as fit as she had been when she used to run regularly and had been good at it, it couldn't be that hard once she'd got back in the swing, it was only running, well, not even that really, it was probably only going to be a jog. And she wasn't an inactive fatty like some of the people she knew, mainly people from down the pub it had to be said, but even if she hadn't done much in the way of running recently, well none at all if she was being honest, she still did do the odd bit of exercise, ran up the stairs and that so was still fit.

"Where we going?"

"I thought we'd go down and have a look at the Marina if that's okay with you?"

"It'll be my absolute pleasure"

"Right, well it's not too far ... and if you start to get tired, just tell me and we'll stop and walk for a bit"

"Okay"

Fuck off, like that was going to happen? Hell would freeze over before she was going to do that, if nothing else her pride wouldn't let her, so she bounded off in front of him at what might just have been a little bit on the too fast side, a pace she knew perfectly well she was never going to be able to keep up but had every intention of slowing down once she'd showed him that no matter what he thought, she wasn't totally useless. But he'd gone past her in a matter of seconds, running as though his limbs were hinged different to other peoples, well, to hers anyway, and now more than half an hour into the run, she desperately wanted to ask him how much further it was to this sodding Marina of his. They'd already run past the bloody pier and there was still no sign of any parked boats anywhere, so she couldn't see any sign of the fucking place they were supposed to be heading for. She wasn't even sure that Brighton had a Marina; it had been the first she'd heard of it but wasn't going to ask him because that would mean getting close enough for him to be able to hear how she was gasping for breath. He'd been running just a bit in front of her since they'd set out but she had this feeling he was pacing himself to let her keep up and even then he'd had to keep on pausing to wait when he got a bit too far in front. He hadn't exactly stopped or anything, he never seemed to even slow down, had just kept on running at the same pace and then on the spot while he waited, so it was bleeding obvious to her that he had a motor up his arse. Every time he'd paused she'd waved her hand at him to tell him that he didn't have to wait, that he should just carry on and she'd go at her own pace, which he ignored, although there was always a bit of a chance that he might not have got all the message from her just waving her hand about in front of her face as she gasped her last. Fuck, when exactly was it that she'd completely lost her mind and said she'd do this?

It was hard to tell which was worse as she struggled to catch up with him yet again and he called out to her to "Stay with me" as he obviously got her confused with someone who was trying to do a best time in a bloody marathon or something, and when it looked as if he was just a few yards in front as he ran on the spot like a bloody giant Duracell Bunny wearing a "t" shirt, it was obvious it was much closer to a few miles as she struggled to put one foot in front of the other and to ignore the excruciating burning pain in her calves, or try to, and the horrible stitch in her side. She no longer cared that her scalp was sweating so much her hair was soaking with strands escaping her pony tail and sticking to her face so she had to keep huffing to blow them out the way from annoying her, and that there was this horrible sensation of the gallon of sweat dribbling down between her tits and down her back and around her crotch and thighs, and that was only marginally worse than the sweat that had already dried on her body making her all gritty and itchy. She was absolutely minging.

"You okay?"

"Never been better"

"Are you sure you don't want to stop and walk for a bit, you look a bit tired?"

"Nah, you're alright" Molly did her best to disguise how difficult it was to speak at the same time as gulping down great lungs full of air, and resisting the temptation to tell him to fuck off "You go on 'n I'll have a little breather, catch you up"

"Come on, we'll walk for a while ... my fault, I should have remembered that you're pocket sized ... and not as fit as if you were army"

"I told you, I'm fine, might not be army and can't help being a bit on the small side, but I'm okay, you go on with your run and I'll stop here for a bit ..." She grimaced then muttered under her breath so that he barely caught what she said although she hadn't meant him to hear it at all "I'll wait for the ambulance ... unless I bloody die before they get here"

Charles put his head back and roared with laughter, then stopped abruptly when he realised she wasn't joking and looked at her with real concern in his expression, before his grin broke through again when he patted her arm and said something about her promising to wait out where she was and he'd be back in a minute. Molly closed her eyes and nodded, she wasn't going to waste oxygen on unnecessary speech and it wasn't as if she could move anyway, everything seemed to have seized up since she stopped and was hanging onto the railing with both hands to avoid falling to her knees. She was scared that if she fell over she would never be able to get up ever again.

He still had the grin on his face when he re-appeared in what felt like a miraculously short time with bottles of pure liquid heaven in his hands, cold water that he'd got from the kiosk selling the Sunday papers, icy cold water, water cold enough for the sides of the bottles to be misted as Molly grabbed one of them from him and gulped it down, forgetting all about the need to say thanks in her haste.

"Take it easy, slowly, don't make yourself sick"

He gave her that smile of his again as the liquid slid over the tongue that was velcroed to the roof of her mouth and then on down her parched throat in great icy gulps.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't realised it was going to be too far for you, I wish you'd told me you weren't used to it, I would never have suggested that we ran this far"

"You didn't say how far it was, did you? I didn't know, but thanks for the drink 'n that but you can go on now, I'll just wait here" She was not going to admit that she'd been a stubborn cow and should have told him but tried instead to reassure him and get him to go, mostly because she wanted him to piss off so she could get a bus back "How much further is it to this marina?"

"We're about half way, so not too far, but we'll have a little rest before we go any further"

"Sorry, thought you'd heard me, I'm not going anywhere, I might just stay here for the rest of my life"

"Nope, you can't do that, you're going to start getting cold in a minute" He was grinning unsympathetically "Can't lend you my top because it's rank, it's all sweaty but I tell you what, we'll have a rest for a few minutes and once you're okay, if you really don't want to go on we can take a slow walk back and get some breakfast" He was struggling not to laugh at the aggrieved tone of voice and the outraged expression on her face when she'd said she was going to stay exactly where she was "Come on, you will start to feel better in a minute, I promise" He put a hand up and wiped the hot sweaty strands of hair away from her face "You might even find you get a bit of a high, people do ... or maybe not" He gave a shout of laughter at the snort of derision from Molly that had greeted this suggestion and nodded his head at the benches "We can sit down over there ... do you want me to carry you?"

There was a good chance he didn't mean it, was teasing her, but teasing or not there was this huge temptation to agree and let him, it would serve him bloody right to have to carry someone who was sweaty and minging and who weighed a hell of a lot more than he probably bargained for. She hadn't even noticed benches dotted along the path when she'd run past them otherwise she'd have sat on one hours ago, but then she'd been in purgatory and hadn't really noticed anything, not even that the sun had disappeared behind some fairly filthy looking clouds and to put the icing on the cake of her morning it looked like it might be going to rain.

Although she wasn't going to admit it, he'd been right about the bloody water as well, she could feel the way it was sloshing around in her guts and was beginning to make her feel sick but was determined that wasn't going to happen on top of everything else as she sipped at the last dribble in her bottle and accepted his half full one, then prayed it was going to stay down.

-OG-

He sat in silence and looked out to sea for a bit, then leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees and look down at all the fag ends accumulated under the bench where the cleaner didn't reach as if they fascinated him, before he looked sideways up at her.

"Have you ever been to Bath, Molly? The place I'm talking about"

"Nah, why?"

"It's um ... it's where I grew up and it's where my parents still have a house and ummm ... it's quite magical, perfect ... it's where I spend a lot of my weekends ..."

"Charlie?"

"Yup?"

"What is this, TripAdvisor? I mean, it all sounds very ... nice 'n that ... or are you inviting me to spend a weekend with you in Bath?"

"There's something I should have told you"

-OG-


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: Okay, without the web-site working properly, I will have no clue whether or not anyone is still with me, so please let me know. Chapter 9 will see them back at the hotel where they will be forced to make decisions about what is going to happen next ... It's almost written ... have to keep stopping because a certain person keeps reading over my shoulder and I don't want him to have a Julius Ceasar ...**_

-OG-

"I have a son"

"Oh ...have you? ... Oh..."

Oh shit, first of all she'd thought it would be a good idea to half-kill herself by pretending she was Paula Radcliffe and now she couldn't even think straight. It was bloody hard when you've got a about a gallon of water sloshing around in your guts making you feel a bit queasy, alright a lot queasy, and at the moment it was like she'd got an hangover without the good bit of getting hammered first, but now here he was sitting next to her and talking about having a kid. He hadn't said a word about it when he'd told her about his divorce and she'd of thought he'd of at least mentioned it, and she hadn't got a clue what it had to do with his mum and dad and their gaffe in Bath, or what any of it at all had to do with her for that matter, but it seemed like he was waiting for her to say something, she just had no idea what.

She wasn't firing on all cylinders so didn't want to look at him, she didn't know whether she was supposed to be worried or angry or happy for him, or what, so focussed instead on trying to rub the black stamp off the back of her hand, the one the club had put on there with some sort of permanent ink or something because the bugger wouldn't shift even with a whole lot of spit on it, which she suddenly realised must look disgusting, and then considered asking him if he still had his, if it wasn't that it would just confirm for him that she was away with the bloody fairies. She was struggling to think of something to say, anything that didn't include coming right out and asking him why the fuck he was telling her or even more important, why the double fuck he was annoyed with her about it?

As she cursed the feeling of her brain being wrapped in bubble wrap, she suddenly had this horrible realisation that she wouldn't mind betting that it was his way of telling her in some roundabout way that he was still married. Oh fuck, that would explain it all, him saying he shouldn't and him saying he had a kid, he was still with Rebecca because of them having a kid. Fuck, just how fucking gullible was she? And she hadn't even got the excuse of being a bit hammered, she'd bloody well believed him, every single last sodding word he'd said, but now she bloody needed to start pulling herself together, what the fuck was wrong with her?

It was a bloody good job she hadn't shagged him, she didn't do married men, well didn't really do any men at the moment, and this, whatever it was she'd thought she'd got going on here had now got a bit stupid, she'd sort of let her imagination get the better of her so she badly needed to calm down a bit ... a lot. It wasn't all her fault, he was a fit looking bloke, even when he was all hot and sweaty and needed a shave, and she liked him a hell of a lot more than she bloody should seeing as how she hardly knew him, but that was all, she'd just got herself all worked up about someone because she fancied the pants off him, someone who obviously didn't fancy her, his loss. It was just the way it is, sometimes you meet a bloke who you think is a dick, then you change your mind and think he's lovely, and then you realise that he is a dick after all, but that is not a good reason to behave like some lunatic who's been let down by the love of your life.

"You lied to me about you and ... her ... being divorced, didn't you? That's what this is about, that you and ... her ... are still together cos of a kiddie, it's okay I get it"

"What the actual _**fuck**_ are you talking about? Of course that's not it, I told you and I have no idea where any of that had come from, I'm not still married, and I haven't lied to you, not once, not about anything"

"Alright calm down ... sorry ... I might have got it a bit wrong ... but..." She still wasn't sure she believed him so couldn't avoid her voice sounding full of doubt "Look, it's none of my business anyway, is it?" Oh shit, wonderful, now she sounded like a stroppy teenager and she'd been told over and over in her tutorials that if you start sentences with _'look'_ it makes you sound dead defensive "I'm sorry, it's just ... look..." Oh shit, not again "I don't get it, Charlie, Charles, I understand that you've got a kid, but why are you telling me about your mum and dad 'n Bath 'n that?"

"Charlie is fine ... and I have no idea why I'm telling you any of this, I suppose I wanted you to know about Sam and to explain what I meant when I said I spend a lot of weekends in Bath, Rebecca lives there, in Bath I mean, not with my parents, heaven forbid, but it's where I get to have him for whole weekends instead of just a day here and there, you know, for an occasional day out to the zoo or something, and he's my son, and I love him, he's always going to be a part of my life ... so that's what I do" Charles was looking at the floor as he spoke, although he was smiling as he spoke about his love for Sam.

"That's a bit shit innit? Why do you have to go there to see him ... nah, sorry that really isn't any of my business is it?"

"It's a condition set by his mother, my lovely ex-wife"

"Oh"

"It's her way of ... punishing me for letting her down, for not being any good at giving her the kind of life she wanted"

"Oh"

Molly didn't know how to react, she wanted to be very rude about Rebecca as well as asking him why the hell he put up with it, but most of all she wanted to tell him that she still didn't exactly understand why he'd told her when he'd made it clear they were nothing more than sort of passing strangers, that in a couple of hours she'd be on a train back home and he'd be in his car going, well wherever it was he was going, and that would be the end of it.

Right now, though, when she was sweaty and knackered and probably smelled bloody awful and there was a freezing cold wind drying her sweat and making her shiver as it turned her nipples into pebbles, this all felt like the final bloody straw in the crappy nightmare that had been her weekend, although she supposed she should be grateful for small mercies that at least he wasn't staring at her tits like a lot of blokes would. Even so, where the fuck was the Doctor and his Tardis when you needed him?

She was wrong about Charles being irritated with her, he was annoyed with himself. He'd already spilled his guts about Rebecca and in spite of what he'd promised himself, he'd just done the same thing about Sammie and she obviously hadn't got the first idea why, but then he wasn't sure of that himself. He'd been in two minds all morning about whether to do what he wanted and try to put things right, to get past that stubborn determination of hers and make it up to her.

But he didn't do emotional involvement.

It was his choice after it'd all gone to shit with Rebecca, and it was the way he liked it, getting involved left you wide open to pain and he'd had more than enough that. He knew that the people who kept telling him to move on and start rebuilding his life, including Elvis, meant well and he'd allowed himself to be persuaded into a couple of blind dates, had made up foursomes with friends and friends of their partners, although definitely not with anyone from his mother's marriage bureau, but none of it had felt worth the effort of asking questions and pretending to care about the answers, it had left him wanting to get away and go back to being alone. Until yesterday, when he'd come very close to getting involved with a girl who was not only very different but who attracted him in a way no-one else had in a very long time, so that he needed to keep reminding himself that she was out of bounds to someone like him, someone who was too old, too jaded, and too battle-scarred, that she definitely deserved a whole lot better than someone like him. Anyway he was often such lousy company that he would inevitably fuck it up in no time flat. It would end with her regretting ever having met him.

"Come on"

There was a threatening bank of clouds gathering overhead as he tweaked the limp pony tail that was damp with sweat and hauled her to her feet, keeping his gaze firmly on her face rather than allowing his eyes to stray below her chin as she pulled her top away from where it was clinging to her damp body and the nipples that were prominent in the cold wind.

"We'd better start getting back, it's going to rain and that wind is fucking cold"

"You promised me breakfast"

"Come on then, we'd better crack on, we're not going to find it sitting here in the rain"

-OG-

"Here, this'll do, we can get breakfast while we wait for this lot to pass over"

"Charlie, we can't, look at this bloody place ... and look at me"

They hadn't gone far when the fine drizzle had begun to blow in off the sea in earnest, sheets of it obliterated the view beneath a thick blanket of cold, grey mist and cloud so they'd started to jog side by side as much to keep warm as anything else, as the rain became torrential stair rods that stung her skin as well as bouncing off the pavements. The small cafe with an awning was providing welcome shelter for a motley crew of very wet pedestrians as well as them and a couple of dog walkers not to mention a bloke with a bike so it was decidedly crowded as Charles rubbed his hands briskly up and down her arms and tried to warm her up so that she yelped and accused him of being too rough which made people turn to look at them.

One good look in the window had told Molly it was not the sort of place she'd normally patronise when she was soaked to the skin and dressed in charity shop shit so that she looked like an half-drowned bag lady. It was posh, the waitresses both wearing long white aprons tied in the front like it was pretending it was a bistro or something as they leaned back against the counter and looked at her looking in at them from the sanctuary of somewhere warm and dry as if they weren't too sure what she thought she was doing even thinking of going in there. It had a little menu card in a holder on each tables, not great big plastic ones like the ones from an Happy Eater, and the tables had white tablecloths so it was definitely not a greasy spoon with the ubiquitous sauce bottles which would have been much more in her comfort zone when she was sweaty and scruffy with rain running down her face and feet squelching in her trainers.

"There's nothing wrong with you, come on, don't be silly you look fine, and with a bit of luck they'll have proper coffee in here"

"Right ... thought everywhere had coffee, tea bag does me"

" _Proper_ coffee, and no they bloody don't" He grinned "I'm not a fully functioning soldier till I've had my first shot of decent coffee in the morning"

"Oh dear, poor you"

"That's what they all say if I don't get my caffeine"

"I bet they do, I bet you're horrible, all that bossing everyone about and making them salute 'n shit"

"They wouldn't expect anything else"

The middle-aged waitress was motherly and smiled at them as they laughed at each other then waved them to a table and stood waiting with her pad poised ready to take his order for coffee, which apparently met his posh twatty requirements, and tea for Molly, and then indicated the menu as she made some comment about it being a shame it was raining again. As far as Molly was concerned the rain was a good thing because it was hard to tell now whether the dark patches on her were rain or sweat, so she felt she looked marginally less minging.

"You got any coco-pops?"

"I'm sorry Madam, I'm afraid not, would you like to choose something else from the menu?"

"Shall I order for you?"

"Nah" Molly giggled as the waitress looked from one to the other with an indulgent smile on her lips, and Molly realised the woman thought they were a couple "I'll have whatever you got that's chocolate" Charles smirked and snorted a laugh down his nose "Don't you start, you can't beat chocolate when you're knackered, it's science innit? Been proved, warms you up 'n all" She rather spoilt the effect of her serious pronouncement on the merits of chocolate as a health food by giggling as she looked at him raise his eyebrows in disbelief at what she'd said.

"Mmmmm, if you say so"

As soon as the woman had finished fiddling around with food and messing about with drinks and had finally left them alone to eat pain au chocolat and raisin toast, he lifted his cup and sipped at the steaming liquid she'd told him looked seriously bloody disgusting, like a cup of tar, but which he'd insisted was lovely. He wrapped his long fingers round the cup and fixed his gaze on her over the top, dark brown eyes holding an expression she found impossible to read as he watched her sip her tea and eat chocolate pastry, but it was an expression that made her wrinkle her nose at him as she licked the crumbs off her lips and fingers and smiled, and then experienced a flood of happiness at the look on his face when he smiled back at her.

"What are you going to do when you finish learning to do an advanced spray tan Molly?"

"Told you, gonna make a shed-load of money out of turning people orange, why? You asking for a bloody discount? Cheeky bugger, I'm not giving anyone a discount, soldier or no soldier"

"Are you saying I can't have one?"

"Oh go on then, seeing as how it's you"

"Lovely ...

"I know that you said you didn't know what you were going to do, but I'm not sure that I believe that"

Molly's instant reaction was to mess about a bit more and laugh and try to deflect him, the fact that she'd got used to people laughing at her ambition didn't mean she liked it, so it was second nature now for her to avoid saying anything about her plans.

"Going into business with Phoebe's old man aren't I? Gonna sell Dickhead Dust to wankers in clubs"

"Nope, don't buy that, not for a single second"

"Why not, lot of money in it ... well ... how about marathon running?"

"Nope, nor that, well, especially not that"

"You'd only laugh if I did tell you, every other bugger does"

"I'm not going to laugh, why on earth would I do that?"

"Dunno, it's just ... everybody thinks it's a huge bloody joke, even me family ... well, 'specially me family, ... I wanna go to medical school 'n then be a doctor, but it's a long way off and it's gonna be well hard, I gotta get there first ... so go on then, laugh"

"Why would I do that, and of course you're going to get there ... there's no question in my mind about that"

"Thank you, I mean, it's really lovely of you to say so ... but you don't know me so how can you say that?"

"You're absolutely right, I don't know you very well, but I know you well enough to know that I have never met anyone so bloody determined in my life, so I know that when you set out to do something, you'll do it, and that you'll make a fucking awesome doctor, no question"

Charles had to hastily hide his pang of dismay at what she'd told him, not because he was lying and didn't think she'd make it, but because he was pretty bloody sure that she would but that once she got to medical school they were talking about years and years.

"Anyway, I do know a lot about you ... I know you're very beautiful ...and that you make me laugh ... and that you think chocolate is the cure for everything and ... you don't like going to clubs where the DJ puts his hat on back to front and ... let me see, that you think you're too small without shoes you can't walk in and ... well, the rest is just details"

"Yeah right ..."

She was embarrassed that he'd said he thought she was beautiful when she knew she looked dog rough and wanted to say something about not being anywhere near as beautiful as him, but decided to keep her mouth zipped in case he thought she was fishing for compliments.

"But you don't know whether I like doughnuts do you ... or any of the rest of that sort of shit?"

"Do you?"

"What, like doughnuts? Yeah ... course I do"

"Well that's alright then, I do too, so we're quite clearly soul mates"

"Are you flirting with me?"

"Nope"

"Oh"

Charles was doing his absolute best to block out the little voice of sanity that was screaming in his head that he shouldn't even be thinking about it, that he was in deep enough bloody trouble already, but then half stood to lean over the table and drop a soft lingering kiss on her lips before he sat down again when the waitress with the indulgent smile interrupted with her offer to top up their cups.

"Okay ... well ... maybe ... possibly ..." He smirked at the look on her face "I'm sorry about not having a shave"

"Couldn't matter less ... I've been wanting to kiss you again all morning"

"No you haven't, most of the morning you've been wanting to kick me"

"Yeah, well that 'n all, how does that work anyhow, wanting to kiss someone at the same time as wanting to kick 'em?"

"It's chemistry"

"Dunno about that ... I'm studying it 'n I haven't heard about anything like that"

"In that case you'll have to take my word for it, won't you?"

"How do I know I can trust you? You might be telling me huge porkies"

"Indeed I might ... but I can assure you I'm not"

"Charlie ...?"

"Molly...?"

His face was wreathed in the sort of smile that made the butterflies in her stomach start migrating south and would have turned her knees to jelly if she'd been standing up as he put his head on one side and raised his eyebrows, and then waited patiently for her to finish what she wanted to say to him. But she couldn't, because she couldn't remember what the hell it was she'd been going to say. Any more than she could remember ever having a conversation like this one before, where their mouths were saying one thing and their eyes were speaking a whole different language.

"Dunno, can't think what I was gonna say now, you put me off"

"What did I do, I didn't say anything"

Molly nodded her head in the direction of their waitress who was still watching their every move with a sappy expression on her face which Molly hoped wasn't mirrored on hers, but was horribly afraid it might be, as the woman leaned on the counter and whispered something to her colleague, quite obviously talking about them.

"You know we've made her happy don't you? She already thought we was together, not like this, not just mates having breakfast, I don't mean that sort of together, but that we're a couple, ... and you kissing me like that has just made her day"

"Is that what we are then, just two friends having breakfast together?" He drained the last dregs of cold coffee from his cup grimacing at the bitter taste before looking up to meet her eyes, catching his bottom lip with his teeth and chewing at it as he waited for her to say something.

-OG-


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Because I promised …. I hope that you enjoy this – haven't spent ages editing and re-writing so I hope it reads okay with not too many errors – chapter 10 is a continuation of this and may be a bit 'X' rated, am going to keep going for a bit longer this afternoon, I am savouring the freedom I have to write without having to keep closing it down because of prying eyes. Thank you for your reviews I am, as always, deeply appreciative of your kind words.**_

-OG-

The walk back was a bit weird. Each step seemed as if it was a step towards everything going to shit, well, obviously not everything, but time was running out, and something that she'd been longing for an hour ago when she'd been wishing the Doctor would hurry up and whisk her into his tardis and out of her nightmare she'd just wanted to get off home, to get back to bickering with Bella who'd be going through the stuff she'd lent her with a fine tooth comb and most probably a magnifying glass to see if she'd damaged anything, and get back to listening to her mum yelling at the kids to pack in whatever they were up to, or even listening to Nan having a big barney with her dad over something stupid because she knew where she was with all that shit, but now everything had changed again, and normal Sunday stuff of going to the student union to meet her mates after her Sunday shift in Costco were what felt _wrong._

Somehow Charles had _unsettled_ everything in her world, and she had to keep reminding herself that she'd only known him five bleeding minutes and whatever it was she'd been conjuring up in her head was not going to happen, and probably in a week from now, or whatever they'd both be saying "Who?"

He'd gone very quiet on her, had just put his hand on the back of her neck as they'd walked and they'd looked at each other every now and then and smiled a hell of a lot, so it felt a bit like _déjà vue_ from the night before, but not exactly, a lot had changed. When he'd asked her if she thought they were just friends, she'd just sat there and stared at the bloody tablecloth and chewed the inside of her bottom lip, saying absolutely bugger all, well she was not sure what to say, and it wasn't that she didn't know, she knew exactly but she needed to hear him say what he thought first because he was the one who'd blown hot and cold on her and she'd already spent a lot of time making a class A tit of herself around him. But instead of saying, he'd just started talking about how it had stopped raining and that they should go and had started fannying around with paying the bloody bill and sorting out the tip and that, so that she was left with this horrible suspicion that he'd got all busy on purpose and that maybe he was regretting what he'd said.

And now he was striding it out towards the hotel as though he couldn't wait to get there, his long legs were making it bloody hard for her to keep up without breaking into a little jog or doing the occasional skippy thing or something, she seemed to have spent most of her morning so far trying to keep up with him as well as trying to breathe.

"Shit Charlie is there a bloody fire somewhere? Could you slow down a bit please, don't think my legs can keep up with yours somehow"

"Sorry, force of habit I'm afraid, and my legs are just a tad longer than yours"

"Really, can't say I noticed" She rolled her eyes "So how tall are you exactly?"

"Well, if we're being exact I'm six foot two and three quarters of an inch, although according to my mother I have stopped growing now" He grinned down at her as she muttered 'smartass' "So how tall are you then? About three foot would be my guess"

"Cheeky bugger, I'm actually more than five feet" she giggled and tossed her head as she tucked her arm though his "About a centimeter more if you must know and my mum told me I stopped growing ages ago"

"Right"

The silence descended again and was once again overwhelming Molly as she looked up at him, she was getting a bit worried that there was something she'd done or said that had upset him in some way, alright she hadn't expected him to declare undying love for her or anything, although that would have been nice, but this felt a bit strained, a bit horrible.

"Molly?"

"Yeah?"

"If I had left you sitting on that bench and run on up to the marina, what were you going to do? And don't say nothing, or that you don't know what I'm talking about or even that you were just going to sit there waiting patiently for me because I won't believe you, you were far too anxious to get rid of me"

"Nah I wasn't …. well, yeah alright I was … I was gonna get a bus back, and what you laughing at? I know it's not very keep fit 'n that, but I was bleeding knackered … and you bloody know I was ….. and it's not funny"

"I know, and I promise you that's not why I'm laughing, but I do just wonder how you were going to buy a ticket, did you have any money on you to pay for it?"

"Shit, nah, didn't think of that, well …. I dunno …. maybe I coulda give the bus driver me name and address 'n told him to send me the bill"

"I can see that would have worked ….. without a doubt" He was suddenly finding something even more hilarious "Or of course, you could have just asked me for the money"

"Nah, couldn't do that, didn't want you to know, did I? … And stop bleeding laughing at me"

"What was it you called me, nuttier than squirrel shit? …. Idiot"

He was smiling down at her as she laughed and then hugged his arm, all of a sudden feeling a whole lot happier, but Charles badly wanted to come clean and tell her how sorry he was that he'd let her run herself into the ground like that. He should have put a stop to it long before he had because he'd known full well how much she was struggling, over the years he'd got extremely proficient at assessing the fitness levels of dozens, if not hundreds, of squaddies, but he'd been waiting for her to admit defeat for some reason, something he was now ashamed to admit even to himself.

"Well, you are and I'm not, 'n that's not very nice calling me names like that, thought you said you were nice"

"Did I? I don't remember saying that …. I'm not nice ….. and now who's flirting?"

"Me?"

If they hadn't arrived at their destination she'd have stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, maybe even suggested they meet for coffee or something before they had to leave and get off home, anything to put off the moment that she'd have to say goodbye. This was the second time they'd walked in through the doors entwined together in some way and just like the first time she did a quick scan of the lobby to check there wasn't anyone she knew hanging about down there. It was different the night before when she hadn't wanted anyone to see them and waste their time stopping them for anything because she'd been desperate to get up to her room and she'd thought he was as well, but this time when they stopped touching each other and walked through the doors she didn't know how she felt, except that they were getting to the end of the line and she didn't even know how to ask him if he wanted to meet up with her later.

"Well, well, and who have we got here then? Where have you two been?" For once he was not wearing his sunglasses but waving them around as he raised his eyebrows with a suggestive leer all over his face and made a big production of checking what time it was on his watch "Had a nice long run in the rain I see"

Oh shit, sunglass superhero, and even better, Phoebe was hanging off him again. Apart from feeling that she'd been busted doing something she shouldn't for some reason, even though it wasn't true, Molly couldn't help being a bit concerned about what the fuck Phoebe was playing at. She was supposed to be going back home to the other dickhead in her life in a couple of hours, well that was the plan anyway, or it had been twenty four hours earlier, but then things can change a lot in a day.

"Lovely …. Elvis ….… how kind of you to ask, and yes indeed Molly and I have had an excellent run, although you are right, it was a bit wet at times …. Good morning Phoebe"

"Mornin'" Phoebe barely glanced at him as she nodded an acknowledgement of his greeting, it was obvious that his charms were totally lost on her which made Molly feel a tiny nugget of relief or something "Didn't know you still did running Molls, thought you'd stopped all that crap when Max pissed off"

"I still do it sometimes, don't have much time though these days, still, I do it when I can"

She felt rather than saw or heard the tiny snigger of amusement or astonishment from Charles and willed him to keep his gob shut, she didn't want to have to start explaining to Phoebe quite why she'd just tried to kill herself doing something so utterly bloody dumb.

"We're just about to go and get breakfast so do the two of you wanna come for something to eat? The others have already gone through, 'n don't forget you've already paid for it, Molls, it's bed and breakfast in together here innit, so you might as well"

"Yeah, we will, I mean I will, but most probably in a minute though, I think we need to have a shower first ….. not together, I don't mean that, I mean separate ….. we both need to go and have a shower, we're both really hot 'n sweaty … our own showers I mean …"

Molly pulled a face at Charles as he nudged her hard and whispered 'shut up'. She knew her mouth had been running away with her but it seemed worse somehow to just come to a grinding halt as Phoebe smirked then turned away towards the dining room with dickhead superspy, who also seemed to be finding something very, very funny as he whispered to her then slung his arm round her as she looked back over her shoulder to where Molly was standing with Charles.

"Shit, do you think he's said something to her, Elvis I mean? If he has I'll never hear the bloody end of it when I get back home"

"Molly, there was nothing for him to tell was there? I certainly didn't say anything to him, and I think you might find there's a tiny chance you were protesting a tad too much" He threw his head back and roared with laughter before jerking it to indicate they should make their way towards the stairs, an action that had infuriated her when he'd done the same thing earlier, but which she no longer minded "In my experience the best thing to do when you're in a hole is to stop digging and then to shut the fuck up" He burst into a fresh peel of laughter "Come on beautiful and stop worrying about what Phoebe thinks, you can tell her to shut up or you'll tell tales to the poor bastard she's going to marry"

"Yeah, well that's if she's still intending to marry him of course, if she don't think she's gonna get a better offer"

"As long as she doesn't think that's going to come from Elvis, his track record on that front is not great"

-OG-

"This is me, oh yeah, you know that don't you, been here before"

Walking up the stairs and along to her room she'd been desperate to arrange her features in a suitable expression so that her face wouldn't betray the way she felt as her brain struggled hard for something to say that didn't include throwing her arms round his neck and begging him not to go. That would be a fucking disaster. She avoided looking at him and kept her back turned as she put the key card in the lock without activating it. It was incredibly bloody hard not to let the tears that were threatening to swamp her eyes leak out, but sniveling and snot wasn't quite the way she wanted him to remember her, and she would have to say goodbye, of course, even if it was just 'see you, oh and have a nice life' and the last thing she wanted was for him to hear her bawling. She couldn't actually remember ever being so reluctant to say goodbye to someone, it shouldn't be that hard to just open a fucking door and go through it, she'd done it probably hundreds of times, but she would probably never, ever see him again in her whole life, ever, and it was killing her. It was actually far worse than the day Max had stormed out of her life, the two of them had been arguing bitterly for days, weeks, and anyway she hadn't realized when he'd slammed the door and left her yelling at it, that he was going for good, right then and there, and this was different, a whole lot different.

"Fuck sake, Molly, come here"

He put his hands on her shoulders and spun her round to face him, then cupped her face as she tried to dredge up a smile from somewhere, before he used his thumbs to wipe away the tears that had escaped from the corners of her eyes.

"Don't, Oh shit, please don't cry"

"I'm not"

His eyelashes made dark fans on his cheeks as he closed his eyes and ran his hands over her hair, finding and smoothing the stray locks of her pony tail with fingers that trembled slightly as he bent his head to kiss her. The moment his lips touched hers they were both swept up in a frantic clashing of lips and teeth, his stubble scraping her face as he tightened his hold on her even more to press her against him, the kiss eventually softening and becoming less frantic but more sensuous when she slid her hands over the muscles of his arms and skimmed them across his shoulders to the back of his neck. Weaving her fingers tightly in his curls was an instinctive move to try and stop him even thinking of moving away as she opened her mouth against his and ran her tongue along his bottom lip, a move that had him deepening the kiss even further as they clung to each other until reluctantly they had to break apart, the intensity of the kiss had left both of them struggling to breathe.

"Shit, Molly what are we doing?"

For one horrible moment it was like a shower of ice running down her back as she immediately thought it was a prelude to more of his "I shouldn't do this' shit, and that they were about to have a bloody re-run of the night before, but then he didn't say anything more, just bent his bead and ran his teeth along the hot skin of her collar bone nibbling and dropping little kisses on it, which made her suddenly deeply afraid that she might smell more than a little bit sweaty. Not that he seemed to mind if she did, as he began to kiss a trail down over her sweaty bra in the valley between her breasts and then put his hand down to stroke the cheek of her bum, pulling her tightly against the hard evidence of just how much he wanted her. He closed his eyes and put his head back groaning loudly when she put her hand down and let her fingertips drift lightly over the bulge that had become very evident as soon as he'd touched her.

"Unless you want me to start taking your clothes off in the bloody hallway I suggest you move your hand away and stop doing that" His voice was so low he sounded as if he was growling "Or open that fucking door before someone comes along here and sees me making a spectacle of myself"

"Come on then"

As soon as they were in the room, on the other side of the door that she'd slammed so hard she'd probably woken everyone in the place the night before, it was Charles who kicked it shut as he pushed her back to lean against it then pulled her red top over her head and threw it across the floor, before he bent his head and kissed down her body between her breasts again, ignoring the fact that her sports bra was damp and covered in sweat stains. His fingers skimmed lightly over the swell of her breasts before he touched her nipples with his thumbs and turned them into taut pebbles, and then moved his head and used his teeth to graze them over the top of the soft jersey, biting gently and sucking and flicking them with his tongue, one after the other and then back again, creating sensations that were driving her insane. He pushed the soft jersey up so that he could take one of her nipples in his mouth, sucking hard and running his tongue around it in a rhythm that stopped her thinking altogether as she began moving her hips against him to match the rhythm even though her bra was very elegantly pushing her tits down at a funny angle as well as strangling her, and she'd been dead right, it did smell a tiny bit as if it needed washing.

"Hang on, let me get rid of this …. it's bloody strangling me" She struggled to pull it off and throw it away "Sorry if I stink a bit sweaty"

"Don't be silly, you smell lovely …. And you don't taste sweaty, you're just a bit salty …. And I'm sorry, I'm probably rank"

"Nah, you're no"

He did smell faintly sweaty, but what should have been deeply unpleasant was anything but, it was just a sort of masculine smell that was helping build the sort of desire in her that she'd never experienced before for anyone as he kissed a trail down her stomach, and murmured in a low voice about how beautiful she was, before sliding his hands over her bum and cupping under it to pull her into him. She'd just put her hands onto the hem of his shirt to try and pull it off because he was wearing far too many clothes for her liking when an ice cold shower of reality stopped him in his tracks.

"Molly, stop, stop, wait a minute" He tried to move away but she ignored his words completely and stayed clinging to him, grinding against him so that for a second he stopped thinking about anything else and reacted to her, but then reality forced him to stop again "We can't"

"What?"

Oh fuck, not again, he couldn't possibly be going to do it to her again when every instinct she possessed was telling her to press harder against him, to stop him wanting to walk away again, what the fuckety fuck was wrong with him? And what the fuckety fuck was wrong with her that he could even think about doing it again?

"No, we have to stop, and please don't look at me like that, oh fuck, I'm so sorry, but we can't, we really can't" He swallowed and desperately wanted to wipe the expression of absolute dismay off her face "I didn't expect this ….. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't even have started it when I knew I hadn't got anything with me" He swallowed again as she looked at him, her face a picture of disbelief "I haven't got a condom"

There was a couple of seconds of complete silence as they just stared at each other, and then she started to giggle.

"That's alright I have, I got loads ….." She looked at him and tried to see what effect her words were having "This weekend was an hen party, wasn't it, so I've got the rest of the ones we got for Phoebe's veil, I mean, they're hers really, I just bought them with me to give her them back, but long as you don't mind your dick glowing in the dark, I don't s'pose she's counted them ….. and actually don't bloody care if she has"

-OG-


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: Sorry this took a little longer than expected, had a crashing headache yesterday and shouldn't even have attempted to edit, but wise after the event when I deleted all the changes I'd made to make it less likely to offend the content police – by accident - so had to do it all again. Thank you so much for your continued support and hope you enjoy it… Chapter 11 is a work in progress …**_

-OG-

"Lady Luck was smiling on me …."

"Yeah, well …. might of been I s'pose …. but more likely had something to do with Phoebe, if she hadn't had her hen here you then wouldn't be needing … that kind of luck ….. bloody hope not anyway"

"Hey you, I wasn't talking about that kind of luck, although I'll admit it's handy"

He winked and laughed then cupped his hands round her face and began dropping little kisses softly down the side of it, and then her mouth before sliding his lips slowly and gently over hers, setting off her stomach churning longings all over again.

"I meant you …. meeting _you_ , but I do believe that everything is a matter of luck, a series of happy accidents … who we meet, who we love, everything, even who our parents are … and of course I meant it, Lady luck was definitely smiling on me when she pushed us together, well she was smiling on me in all sorts of ways this weekend"

"Do you mean that? I mean, don't matter if you don't , if you were, you know, joking, it's still a lovely thing to say"

Charles putting his arms back around her and started to talk about luck had made her feel a whole bucket load better; until he had Molly had been cringing inside. Even though they'd been going at it hammer and tongs, well they had until he'd had that major panic attack about not having a condom; she was pretty convinced that she had to have of put him off by now; she'd definitely done a Molly Dawes special, as Max used to call them, and ruined the whole bloody mood and it wasn't like she was stupid, well not all the time, but it had been a very long time since she'd had any sort of action with anyone at all. There hadn't been anyone that mattered in her life and definitely no-one who'd got anywhere near her bed for bloody ages. Living at home and sharing bunk beds with Bella wasn't exactly what you need for any sort of sex life, so even if she had met someone she fancied enough, which she hadn't, not till now, it would have been a non-starter and she certainly wasn't going to have a shag round the back of anywhere any more like she had when she was eighteen and there was no privacy of any sort at home so even her relationship with her rabbit had gone down the non-existent route. But there was nothing even remotely sexy about someone still wearing her sweaty socks and trainers not forgetting a tatty pair of sleep shorts with a sweat-stained crotch, any more than there was anything even the tiniest bit alluring about waving a box of neon condoms they'd got off one of those dodgy web-sites at him while she made a joke about his dick. Especially as he was still wearing every stitch of his clothing and she wasn't.

"You're unbelievable, you know that, don't you" He bit the corner of his bottom lip before pulling it into his mouth and making a show of his lovely white teeth as he tried not to grin "Of course I meant it, I meant every bloody word, and I don't tell lies, I've already told you that, and you're bloody gorgeous as well" Charles pulled back to look at her " .Beautiful"

"You're not so shabby yourself …. although gotta say you're a little bit overdressed next to me"

"Am I? Better do something about it then"

-OG-

He'd tried so incredibly hard to convince himself of the sheer impossibility of them having any sort of relationship for all the reasons he'd gone over and over in his head, common sense had told him that she was too young or that he was too old and that she was full of happy enthusiasm and optimism and he was, well, not, but all that disappeared when he pulled his shirt off and she ran her hands up and down his chest, tracing his muscles with an intense look of concentration on her face as she lingered long enough to pinch his nipples. His shut his eyes and tilted his head back, just enjoying what she was doing to him as she followed the same path with her lips, pressing a trail of kisses up to the hollow at the base of his throat when he put his hand on the back of her head. Suddenly it was essential to make sure she didn't even think about stopping what she was doing as he tugged off the soft band that was holding her hair back and let it tumble free, enjoying the sensation as it brushed against him. He began to pad the fleshy parts of his fingertips against her scalp and held his breath as she retraced the path of her kisses, kissing one of his nipples gently, before she took it in her mouth and bit it. Not hard, she didn't bite him hard, but it was hard enough to make him flinch involuntarily at the sharp little pain so that his breath caught in his throat with the mingled sensations of surprise and pain and pleasure.

"Shit, sorry, didn't mean to 'urt you …. sorry, you okay?"

"You didn't hurt me, and whatever you do, please don't stop"

The pain had been mainly because he hadn't been expecting it, and he hadn't really lied to her, yes it had hurt a bit, but the overwhelming sensation had been intense excitement, had sent a clear and unmistakable message to his groin, flooding his senses with an urgent demand from his insistent erection that he take her to bed immediately. But there was also an intense desire building in him that more than anything he wanted to make her happy. .

Despite the passion, it wasn't long before the kissing wasn't anywhere near enough so he moved his hands down to cup her bum and lift her off her feet so she could wind her legs round him, but then his fingers slipped inside her shorts instead, hooking them in the waistband to slide them down and take them off and took her knickers off with them. She'd forgotten that the knickers she was wearing, the ones he'd just seen, were just about as unsexy as you can get. They were horrible, but she hadn't thought anyone else was going to see them, especially not him, big girl pants, white cheapie ones from Primark that looked like something Nan would wear, and they were way too bloody big for her so she was tempted to tell him she'd borrowed them from Bella like her shoes, although Bella's stuff was a hell of a lot sexier, but he wouldn't know that. They were the wrong size because she'd bought them in the sales and beggars can't be bloody choosers, but on the other hand they hadn't yet gone the usual shade of grey from being in with the Dawes family wash.

"Sorry that they're, you know, not a thong or anything, but thongs are a bit bloody uncomfortable when you run in 'em"

"What, are you seriously telling me that you've been out running wearing a thong? That's an interesting picture"

"Well nah … not as such …. okay not at all, I just know, and anyway haven't got any anymore, they're bloody uncomfortable so threw 'em all in the bin when I gave up men"

"I don't give a shit what knickers …." He was about to add a stupid remark about her not having them on long enough for it to matter, but stopped himself in time, afraid he was about to make himself sound like some middle-aged sleaze-ball, so leaned forward instead to start kissing her neck as he ran his hands up the outsides of her legs. Molly kicked off the shorts and knickers where they'd pooled attractively round her ankles and at the same time tried very hard to heel off her trainers, but failed dismally because she'd done the laces up too well.

"Hey, what do you mean, you've given up men? I mean, what does that make me exactly?"

"Different?"

"Lovely, I'll take that ….. and that as well …" She was thoroughly distracting him as she slipped her fingers into the waistband of his jogging bottoms and then ran them over his hip bones to his trace his stomach muscles, lingering for a moment to stroke the livid pink scar that was still visible, and then drifted her fingers lightly over the hard thick column of his erection, looking up at his sharp intake of breath when she slipped her hand inside the tight black soft jersey of his pants. For Charles the feel of her fingers lightly drifting across him made him forget everything except an overwhelming urge to sweep her up in his arms and tumble her under him onto the unmade bed.

Molly had done her best to kick her trainers off as far away from the bed as she could, she was convinced that they smelt atrocious but had no intention of sniffing them to find out, and even though she was sort of determined to stop doing stuff that wasn't sexy, she couldn't help the giggle that bubbled up and escaped at the sight of the shocking pink condom before she stuck it under the pillow. And then nothing else mattered when he started using his tongue and his teeth to make her squirm with almost unbearable pleasure. His mouth returned again and again to tease the hard peaks of her nipples, and the softness and slight prickle of his stubble on the inside of her thighs was creating sensations deep inside her that were driving her insane, so that all she wanted was to plead with him not to stop.

Sex to Molly had always been a bit of a ho hum thing. It wasn't as though she didn't enjoy it, she loved the foreplay and the feelings as the excitement built, the closeness that had always ended as a bit of a damp squib, not that any of that was going to stop her wanting more, wanting him.

He was inhaling the indefinable scent of her skin as he kissed it, loving the feeling of her body writhing under his and the little whimpers she was making were rapidly pushing him to the edge of his control, sensations and sounds that had him hanging onto his self-control by a thread. He patted the sheets under the pillow moving his hand around trying to locate the shocking pink condom, and then held it between his teeth ready to rip open, he was very conscious of the need for him to be ready, that Molly had her whole life planned out in front of her and an act of selfish careless sex mustn't be allowed to get in the way of any of that.

But the tiny hand circling him and moving slowly up and down on him with her thumb gently spreading the bead of moisture that had gathered was driving him ever closer to the edge of insanity. All the common sense and the good intentions ceased to be important when he took the condom out of his mouth and began to kiss her breasts again instead, completely forgetting all about being sensible when her hands went back and tangled in his curls pulling his head down against her.

But Molly was thinking a hell of a lot clearer than he was as she ripped open the pink foil and then giggled and complained loudly that they'd been conned and that the bloody thing inside wasn't pink at all. But Charles didn't care, just for once he was very glad of the thin layer of latex, the simple touch of her hands as she'd rolled it on him had been almost enough to finish it before they'd even got started.

She was tiny and tight and was grinding against him in a way that meant he was very quickly struggling not to give into the waves of pleasure that were building, he wasn't sixteen for fuck sake, but he could feel that he was very, very close to reaching the point of no return, the way he was tightening against her meant he was desperate to just hold off long enough for her to get there first, although he wasn't a bit sure he could. But he wanted, no he needed, to make her happy.

Molly had stopped thinking altogether and was focusing instead on the feelings that were deep inside her somewhere, she was desperate to stop them drifting away as they so often had in the past. She used to give up and fake it with Max because she couldn't bear to see his crestfallen little face when she told him the truth, but not this time, more than anything she didn't want to have to fake it this time, this sensation of being almost on the crest of a wave that was going to break any second meant she was holding her breath and concentrating on it, that it was just hovering out of her reach, and as long as he didn't stop what he was doing, she wasn't sure she could bear it if that happened, she couldn't possibly be as close as this and then for it not to happen …..

"YES … Yessssssssssssssssssssss … oh yes, yes"

As she called out and the tremors ran through her, her arms and legs and every other part of her convulsively tightened their grip on him, around him, and his world became a white hot explosion of intense pleasure that seemed to last forever and be over in a flash as he called out her name before burying his sweaty head in her neck, his heart hammering as his breathing slowly returned to normal.

-OG-

He had half-expected to want to go afterwards, to leave, to kiss her goodbye and be on his own again, to remind himself that he didn't get emotionally involved, but the last time he'd felt like this was when he and Rebecca had loved each other, when he'd believed they were forever, before it had all gone to shit and he'd put his emotions in cold storage. And now, when he'd least expected it, this girl had come into his life and turned all his certainties upside down, she'd made him face the fact that he'd been fucking lonely for years, being with her, touching her, and holding her the way he had, had made him recognize that you can be just as lonely with the wrong person as you can when you're actually on your own. And Rebecca had become that wrong person and she'd known it even if he'd been shut his eyes and looked the other way, calling it a day the way she had was the right thing to do, even if her method had been designed to make it as painful for him as it possibly could be, and he'd spent far too long since in mourning for something that hadn't existed for a long time, he'd been totally wrong when he'd tried so hard to put his life in an emotional deep freeze.

Being happy was about sharing the little jokes that only the two of you understand, it was having more fun with that person than you could ever imagine having on your own or with someone who wasn't them, and more than anything else it was wanting that person to be the happiest you could make them. So, even if he didn't know her very well, and she was right about that despite all the shit he'd spouted at her earlier, it felt as if that person could be the girl who was curled up against him with her hair tumbling all over him and a Cheshire cat grin all over her little flushed face ….. Molly.

He'd dealt with the unromantic stuff of getting rid of the condom and they'd both laughed when she'd expressed her disappointment at not seeing him sporting a shocking pink condom on his dick, and he'd got back into the bed to bask in her smile and her happy face as he'd put his arm round her and pulled her in close to cuddle and then allowed a deep and contented silence to settle over them. After a couple of minutes Molly began to get concerned that he was going to drop off on her, his breathing was getting so relaxed sounding that she was just waiting for the snoring although if he did she was going to have to hurt him with something, she wanted to talk to him, although if she was honest, she didn't know what she wanted to say exactly. It was obviously far too soon to ask him what he thought was going to happen next when they left here, if anything.

But the more she listened to him breathing and the more she thought about it, the more _nothing,_ bugger all, became her guess, just because they'd had great sex didn't mean that they had any sort of a future and she was bloody kidding herself again if she thought anything like that was going to happen, going to bed with him and sharing what they'd shared didn't change anything. He was still going to live bloody miles away from her and was still going to spend his days being all important and marching about and ordering people around and he was still going to get sent off to places where people were going to shoot at him, and she was still going to live at home and go off to Uni every day, and she was going to be doing that for years and years, wasn't going to stop for anything or anyone, and he was still going to spend his weekends in Bath with his kiddie while she slaved in Costco, so there was no bleeding point in saying anything to him about any of it at all.

"Charlie?"

"Molly?"

"What's the time?"

"Why?" He picked up his phone to check the display "It's only twenty past ten … it's not late"

"Shit, I need to check out of here before they stick another day on me bill and then cut me card up in a million bits, and I'm minging, I need to go and have a shower"

"Hey, don't go, I'll pay the bill, I'd like to, and there's plenty of time before you need to worry about having to check out"

"Nah, you're not going to pay me bill, I pay me own way, but thanks anyway"

"Molly, this is not about paying the bill, you can't just go and leave me, we haven't talked about anything, we need to talk about what's going to happen next for a start, so I'm sorry, but I can't let you just piss off"

"I might want to, you don't know"

"No I don't, do you? No …. you don't"

"Alright I don't but you need to stop being a bossy bugger, you'll be looking at me to salute you or something in a minute"

Charles threw his head back and looked at the ceiling as he tried not to laugh at the way she was faking an expression of indignation at the same time as trying to suppress the giggle that had bubbled up and at the mock outrage she was trying to pack into her voice.

"Is it working?"

"Nah, course not"

"Are you sure?"

"Are you going to Bath next weekend, see your little boy?"

"Stop trying to change the subject, but the answer is no, not next weekend, why?"

"Just thought I'd ask, well, if you're not doing anything else, I'd ask if you'd like to come to Phoebe's wedding with me, be my plus one … but only if you want to, if you're not too busy or anything … I mean it's alright if you don't want to ….. you don't have to, I'll understand if you can't think of anything worse …."

"I'd love to"

-OG-


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Sorry it's been so long, wasn't really in the mood last week so it was pretty difficult to concentrate, however it was pointed out to me that someone would need to chisel them out of the sheets if they stayed there much longer, so we've moved on to the following weekend, which I hope you'll enjoy.**_

She hadn't wanted him to get there in time for the ceremony, had insisted that he'd be bored and that it would be shitty for him to have to sit on his own while a whole load of nosy bastards tried to find out who he was, and what he was doing there and although he'd gone along with it and had pretended to believe her, he'd actually been extremely sceptical. Every time they'd spoken there'd been these awkward little silences that left him sensing an undercurrent although she'd vehemently denied it, had insisted she didn't know what he wanted her to say that would convince him, but nevertheless there was something there somewhere in his gut that was telling him a different story, and she knew perfectly well that not knowing a soul wouldn't matter to him in the slightest. He was pretty sure it had more to do with her regret at having asked him in the first place; that she was worried about not being able to monitor what was said.

He'd left plenty of time to get to Bexleyheath without killing himself or anyone else on the way, but had then got caught in delay after delay, nightmare traffic on the M25 and then he'd had to slow right down after he'd triggered speed cameras as he'd gone flying past, so at the very least it was going to cost him a fortune in fines and if he was _really_ lucky, he'd get to lose his license as well. And he was still fucking late. By now he was supposed to have been standing next to her pretending they hardly knew one another, but instead here he was driving round and round a jam-packed car park looking for somewhere to dump the car, and her phone had been going straight to voicemail for hours, so he couldn't do more than leave message after message and send numerous texts to say where he was. He said a silent prayer it would still be there when he came to re-claim it, then abandoned the car half on a grass verge and ran hell for leather across the car park to the entrance.

His breathing slowly went back to normal as he took advantage of his height to look over the heads of the crowd standing around with glasses in hand and talking and laughing at full volume, and saw her immediately. She was in front of one of the long windows with the sunlight glinting off her hair and pretending she was paying close attention to a large lady wearing a silly hat, although he could see from the way Molly's eyes kept wandering anxiously round the room that she wasn't listening to a single word the woman was saying to her, she looked as if she was looking for someone.

Molly had told him the bridesmaids frock Phoebe was forcing her to wear made her look like a bit of broccoli, that the colour was horrible and didn't suit her, and that it made her look as if someone had sat on her head and squashed her. He'd laughed like a drain as she'd kept repeating sternly that he should just wait and see, and that he'd see she was right, so that he'd told her it didn't matter anyway, he was still going to take hundreds of pictures of her and stick them all over Facebook. Now he was just shaking his head slowly in amused disbelief as he watched her. He wanted to kick himself for listening in the first place, he should have known better than to take any notice of anything she'd said, she'd been doing her usual trick of putting herself down before anyone else could get around to it.

-OG-

It had all gone a bit shit the last time she'd seen him so that she'd spent the whole week swinging between desperately wishing the time away till she'd see him again and wishing she hadn't invited him. He'd wanted to drive her home from Brighton, but she'd panicked and insisted on getting the train, had told him she had to do her shift at Costco before she went home, and that much was true, but really it was more that she didn't want to take him home with her. She'd have felt bad that she couldn't invite him in, but she barely knew him and just the thought of the two of them dropping in unannounced so she could introduce him to the family bought her out in a cold sweat. Her mum would never forgive her, the house would be its usual Sunday afternoon tip, full of kids and racket and mum doing as big pile of ironing in the lounge, getting the school uniforms ready and Dave would've just got back from the pub, so god knows what sort of mood he'd have been in, and her bloody family was hard to take at the best of times. They'd take one look at him, or maybe have one little listen to him speak and decide he was a posh twat. To be fair, a bit like she had.

And then all week she'd been worried about the frock, everyone kept on and on at her about how nice it was and how much it suited her, that the colour was lovely on her, and she did want to believe them, of course she did, but she wanted more than anything to be beautiful for him and to get rid of the memory of her all sweaty in a washed out top and ratty shorts that she usually slept in. But, and it was a bloody big but, skin tight satin over her tits with a skirt that was so tight over her stomach that she really needed to wear spanx under it if she had any, which she hadn't, and it had a big bow on the back that made her bum look huge, so she didn't feel like it was doing it for her at all. It just felt like fancy dress, and she had this horrible feeling that he'd take one look and laugh himself sick.

"I'm sorry to interrupt…" He bestowed his best charm laden smile on the woman she'd been talking to "But have you seen anyone round here dressed as a bit of broccoli by any chance?"

"You are so bloody funny … not …. Hello Charlie"

Molly's huge smile of welcome for the tall dark-haired newcomer made her companion smile at them indulgently before she walked away to find someone else to talk to without waiting to be introduced. The way he was smiling at her made Molly forget that she'd ever had any manners at all and hadn't introduced him, which she now realised was unforgivably rude of her, although it might have been a bit tricky because for some reason she suddenly couldn't remember for the life of her who the woman was, or even her name. All she knew was that she felt exactly like she'd left her guts on the ground floor and gone whizzing up in one of those express lifts.

"Hello gorgeous"

"Where you been? Was beginning to think you'd had a better offer ….. thought you was gonna stand me up"

"What? Why the hell would I do that? And I've sent you about a million messages which you would know if you had your bloody phone switched on"

"Oh yeah, shit, sorry"

"I should think so too …. and I'll have you know I've broken the speed limit over and over getting here, so I'm probably going to be asking you to take some of the points for me"

"That's illegal innit? Sorry, can't do that … anyway can't drive, can I?"

"Oh shit"

He was aching to ignore all the stupid promises he'd made, the way she was smiling at him made him long to sweep her off her feet and kiss her, and to keep on kissing her until they were both breathless. He did understand, or said he did, that she didn't want to give anyone anything to gossip about, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

"You know, you look absolutely _beautiful_ ….. perfect … and I'm finding it very difficult right now to keep my hands off you"

"Ditto"

"Oh well in that case …." He put his hands on the tops of her arms and pulled her into him to kiss her soundly on both cheeks, and totally ignored all the protests she made as she blushed and then looked around to see who was watching them "Friends kiss each other hello all the time … hey, you've grown …. Oh don't tell me, you're wearing Bella's shoes again, aren't you?"

"Nah" She lifted the hem of her dress to display her feet in a pair of strappy sandals with lethally high stiletto heels "Ta da, no need, got me own now, haven't I? And they fit, so I canwalk in them … nearly" She giggled and twirled one foot round for him to admire. She was still slightly flushed and off balance from the feel of his hands on her arms and the way he'd kissed her cheeks "Just right for when I'm running for the bus"

"Indeed …..… and perfect with a thong"

"Sssshhh, stop it, someone will hear" She giggled "Be'ave …. stop being a perv"

"I'm not …. I'm just appreciative … sorry, I forgot we're supposed to be pretending that we're strangers'

"Nah you didn't and we're not, not really, well, not strangers exactly, I mean, that would be a bit bloody stupid, wouldn't it? We're more like ….. I dunno … friends … or something"

"What does the 'or something' mean?"

Molly stuck the tip of her tongue out at him, instantly deciding to treat it as a rhetorical question not worthy of an answer because actually she'd miles prefer him to see her as an immature twat who childishly poked her tongue out at people than get involved in a discussion with him about just how casual they were or how long they were going to last before it all went to shit, which she knew was bound to happen. Much as she liked him, well much as it felt like that was mutual, their lives were too separate for anything else, and she certainly didn't want to have to spend hours and hours explaining to every nosy sod who thought they had the right to ask, which would be most of them, what had happened to her _relationship_ withthe dark-haired good looking bloke she'd bought to Phoebe's wedding. It had been bad enough when Max and her had split, so she was absolutely determined that the only person who'd know anything about her and him was Phoebe, and she had enough ammunition on her to keep her gob shut for her for years.

-OG-

The food was standard hotel wedding catering, nice enough but it might as well have been sawdust for all the notice they took of what they were actually putting in their mouths as they sat next to one another at one end of the top table and had another of their conversations that didn't seem to need words every time they turned to look at one another, which was often. Molly was incredibly grateful they were stuck on the table they were and not at one of the round ones where loads of people would have the chance to ask them loads of questions. Charles had politely answered everything he'd been asked so far, and had agreed that he and Molly were just friends who hadn't known each other long as she sat and felt the distracting warmth of his thigh as it pressed against hers and resisted the urge to lean back and rest against the arm that was draped across the back of her chair, She was concentrating or pretending to as assorted people droned on and on about what a lovely couple the bride and groom were and how lovely the bridesmaid was which made Charles whisper 'Yup perfect' in her ear. Along with everyone else she sank glass after glass of Champagne in a variety of toasts, although Charles said he wasn't that keen so only took tiny sips of his so that Molly ended up finishing it, saying it would be dead rude to leave any.

Charles appeared to be highly amused when they got up to stretch their legs and Molly's were a tiny bit wobbly for some reason so that she needed to lean against him as he put an arm round her waist to keep her steady, and the bride wandered equally tipsily over to them on the premise of talking to her bridesmaid and renewing her acquaintance with Charles but in reality, she wanted to know how Elvis was.

"Hello Charlie, didn't know it was you that was coming till I saw you there with Molls, she never said, it's dead nice to see you again" She was focusing entirely on the empty glass in her hand so she could avoid looking in his eyes before running her hand over the white satin that was tightly encasing her stomach "This bloody champagne is a bit shite innit? It's giving me gyp ….. think it fell off the back of a lorry meself" She held the glass up to the light "Tastes more like turps than anything else"

"Actually Champagne has never been a favourite of mine ….. it's lovely to see you again Phoebe and congratulations, it's a lovely wedding and you look beautiful"

"Ta ….. that's nice of you, dead smooth, inne? Can see what you see in him now, Molls, you know, apart from ….." Phoebe smiled at some distant point off to the left side of Charles' head and shrugged when she saw Molly widen her eyes and shake her head violently in warning. She wanted very badly to tell Phoebe to shut the fuck up, but the other girl was now smiling vaguely in a way that said she was only mildly interested in the conversation so far, but was about to make a polite enquiry about a mutual acquaintance "How's Elvis? Okay, is he?"

"Indeed …. as far as I know anyway, I haven't seen him since the weekend but I haven't heard anything to the contrary" Charles bit his bottom lip and smirked, wondering whether she was actually going to look him in the eye at any point "I'll tell him you were asking after him shall I, next time I speak to him?"

"No, it's alright don't bother, don't matter"

Phoebe immediately faked an insouciance that she definitely didn't feel as she plastered a false smile on her face and wandered off saying she had to find her brand new husband, and then betrayed herself by looking anxiously back over her shoulder as she walked away. Molly found herself feeling sorry for her, and just for a moment considered following and dishing out some reassurance, but then decided to leave her to stew for a bit. Phoebe was far less likely to drop her in it if she thought Molly might return the favour.

-OG-

Phoebe had thrown her bouquet, a ritual Molly had firmly refused to get involved in, saying she had no intensions of being the next victim, and the bride and groom had gone off to some unknown destination. Charles still felt intensely sorry for him, Phoebe was a pretty girl when she was decked out in yards of virginal white satin who'd promised all sorts of fidelity and yet even on her wedding day she'd been thinking about someone else, a someone who'd been in her bed less than a week ago.

"Are you having fun?"

"Yeah, course … why … are you?"

"Yup, but I wondered if you'd like to dance?"

"What, with you?"

"Of course with me …. who else?"

He didn't wait for an answer, just held out a hand and got up, draped his jacket on the back of the chair and loosened his tie as she let him lead her through the crowd but then tried to pull away when she clocked the audience. But he wouldn't let her, just held on tight and when there was less than a millimeter of air between them began to move in time to the music. It seemed to Molly that every bugger in the room was watching them, friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, everyone, people she knew by sight from down the pub and people who knew her family, especially her Nan, all her worst bloody nightmares, so it took just a moment for her to close her eyes and bury her face against his chest and pretend the audience wasn't there. It took just a couple more seconds for her to realize that the rumbling sound deep in his chest was him singing softly along with the golden oldie stuff the DJ was playing for the parents and other older people, and for the guests who were so bloody hammered they needed someone to hold them upright.

" _Nobody does it better_

 _Makes me feel sad for the rest_

 _Nobody does it half as good as you …"_

"Don't stop, you've got a lovely voice"

"I know" He laughed softly "The Corps of Army Music once begged me to join them"

"Did they, bloody hell …. and you turned them down, really? Bloody, bloody hell"

"Nope"

"What? Are you winding me up? You sod ….. stop it …. it's not funny"

"Yes it is …. you're laughing anyway …. and I like winding you up"

"Bastard"

He held her away from him slightly and looked down at her face as she tried to bury it back against his chest, her face scarlet with embarrassment that she'd believed him "What are you thinking about Molly … come on tell me, you're not really upset are you?"

"Nah ….….. not thinking about anything really"

He leaned back again and put a hand under her chin to tilt her face up towards him and raised one eyebrow and she cursed how easily he could tell when she was lying, or being a bit fucking economical with the truth anyway.

"Look, I said … " Shit, she was doing it again, being defensive but she didn't want him to think she was upset, it wasn't his fault that she was so bloody gullible at times "I'm not upset …. Really I'm not 'n anyway ne'er mind about me, how about you, what are you thinking about?"

"I was wondering if ….. if you were thinking … if you were going to stay with me … only if you want to, of course, I'm booked in here"

"There was me thinking I'd have to go halves on a Travelodge ….. mind you, I bet the rooms here are well nice, better than the Travelodge probably"

"I don't care what the fuc …. Rooms are like ….….. all that matters is that you're with me" He took a deep breath "Does this mean that you are going to stay with me?"

"What, here? Me, stay with you here?"

"MOLLY"

"Yeah, course I am, well, seeing as how you asked so nicely"

"Lovely"


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: Thank you for all your lovely reviews – I hope you enjoy this – writing it has meant I could cheerfully ignore the endless political clap-trap on the radio and t.v. Boring and repetitive doesn't begin to describe it.**_

He'd had so much trouble parking that he'd begun to believe Lady Luck had run out on him. He'd had to end up leaving the car parked badly on a grass verge so was a trifle concerned that it could easily have been clamped or towed away with his overnight stuff still inside, but she'd smiled on him again and to his relief it was still where he'd left it. He was also concerned at the thought of leaving Molly hanging around waiting for him for any longer than was absolutely necessary, even though she'd refused to go out to the car with him, in fact, she'd been so anxious to get him out of the way while she said her goodbyes that she'd almost shoved him bodily out of the door, and he probably hadn't helped much when he'd laughed at her the way he had or when he'd run his finger gently down her cheek, and told her that anyone who gave a shit would probably have worked out all there was to know about them already. For some reason she'd been furious and had hissed at him that if that was the case they were a lot bleeding cleverer than she was, so that he'd lifted his hands in supplication and backed away from her, then worked his way round the room to say polite farewells to those who were still sober enough to stand up and to some who were only capable of slumping in a chair, and had then smirked broadly at her when he got back. He'd leaned forward to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek to say goodbye, something he didn't think would fool anyone for a single second, but she'd gone scarlet and muttered that she'd get a lift to the TraveLodge if he didn't bloody pack it in immediately. Although he wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to be packing in, and didn't think he believed her anyway, but she was just about the most determinedly stubborn person he'd ever come across in his life, so wasn't about to take any chances.

-OG-

"Are you still going to go halves?"

"Yeeeaaah … on a bleeding TraveLodge … not this … Shit, Charlie, you didn't think I meant this did you?"

Her eyes were like saucers as she looked at him and raised her eyebrows at the king-sized bed with its dozens of pillows piled artfully against the headboard, and the white linen bedding with its pale grey embroidered stripes, and then put her head round the bathroom door before going in to check out the freebies. It was well-known that the free stuff gives the game away if the hotel is a bit cheapskate like the half a star ones she was used to where if you're stupid enough to use the soap it's likely to take a layer of your skin off, or if this place was as she suspected, mega bleeding expensive, and once she'd looked there wasn't a shadow of doubt in her head that that's what it was.

"I mean, I will if you want, but you'll 'ave to let me give you an IOU for my half" Charles was grinning broadly at the smile on her face and at the way she was pretending to be anxious as she chewed at her bottom lip "Unless you take credit cards of course"

"Not yours I wouldn't"

"Are you saying there's something wrong with my bloody card?"

She tried very hard to sound affronted at his insinuation, but then remembered that they'd talked about it in Brighton, so stuck her tongue out at him instead. She knew full well or at least she was hoping against hope that he was teasing, because if he was serious she was fucked.

"Oh well, looks like you're stuck with the bill then dunnit?" She looked around the room again still with the same smile on her face "I said it would be well nice in here, and it is innit? And there's well nice stuff in there 'n all" She nodded to indicate the bathroom "So ….. even if I do have to owe you my half, can I still take it all 'ome with me"

"Of course, it's always important to get your money's worth"

"Yeah … but problem with that is, I 'aven 't got any money"

"Idiot …. I don't want your money"

"Just as well seeing as how I 'aven't got any" She grinned at him slightly ruefully and doing her best not to sound pathetic or deprived or something "Still s'pose you're well used to this sort of place aren't you?"

"Nope … the army doesn't provide nice beds like that one or an en-suite …. believe me when we're deployed we're more likely to be in a tent, and we're bloody lucky if there's a shower that works anywhere near"

"Nah, didn't mean when you and Elvis was off somewhere playing at being superheroes" She shrugged "I meant when you and ….. forget it, don't matter"

She had been going to say that she'd been talking about when he'd been somewhere playing happy bloody families with Rebecca, but decided just before she opened her mouth that bringing her name into it probably wouldn't be her brightest move ever, it would risk putting a downer on his mood, which she didn't want, and she could well do without having the ghost of his ex sitting in the corner taking notes.

.

"We can find somewhere else to stay if you want to, if you don't like it here"

"Nah, you're alright"

Charles would have loved to think of the right words to explain to her that he'd had this vague plan of the two of them going to some really nice hotel so that he could spoil her, and this place had been handy for the wedding, but he was sorry now that he'd teased her about paying half the bill. If he wasn't very careful whatever he said next was going to make him sound like some dirty old sod who'd shelled out on a nice room because he was expecting some sort of payment in kind.

Molly wasn't entirely sure what to say to fill the long awkward silence that seemed to have suddenly developed between them because the booze she'd had earlier seemed to have messed with the filter between her brain and gob so the only thing that kept popping up in her brain was how much this place was bloody costing him and she senses that he didn't want to talk about that anymore, that they'd already done that one to death. She honestly didn't think she'd had that much to drink, except maybe a little bit too much Champagne, but even that had been bloody hours back and she'd swapped to full fat coke as soon as they'd finished the sitting down and eating bit, so really hadn't expected to feel even a little bit drunk, but did.

"Are you hungry? Do you want to go out and get something to eat?"

"What … now?"

"Yes …. now …. if you want to"

"Do you? I mean, are you hungry? I'd have to get changed, I'm a bit overdressed for the chippy"

"Who said anything about a chippy? No. I'm not hungry I just thought you might be … and it would be a pity to change ….. have I told you how nice you look in that frock?"

"Nice? NICE? …. Did you just say I look _nice_?" Her voice sounded full of what he was horribly afraid was outrage even though she still had a broad grin on her face " _Nice,_ what sort of bloody word is _that_?"

"Sorry … was that the wrong thing to say? …. Shit, it was, wasn't it … but you know I meant that the dress is gorgeous and that you look gorgeous in it"

He opened his eyes as wide as he possibly could and tried to beg for her to forgive him, and almost managed to do it with a sincere smile and without laughing, which made her want to giggle at him again.

"I think you're beautiful, but you know that, so could you please forgive me and come over here and tell me how much you've missed me"

"Who said I had?"

"I did ….… go on admit it, you have, haven't you?" He was laughing as he pulled her away from the bathroom door and wrapped her in his arms hugging her to him "Probably not as much as I've missed you of course, but still ….."

"Did you?"

"What, miss you? Nope, not a bit, not really, I just kept on wondering what you were doing and whether you were busy turning someone orange or if you were listening to some lecture and if you were whether you were concentrating, what you were thinking about … so no, of course I didn't miss you"

Even though he was teasing her his voice had become so soft and low that it was barely more than a whisper as he breathed the words into the top of her hair and made tiny shivers of lightening run up and down her back as a whole bunch of butterflies arrived for a dance party in the pit of her stomach before migrating south in a heady fluttering mix of anticipation and excitement.

"Yeah, s'pose I missed you too ….. a bit"

She impressed herself with how normal she sounded, if a bit on the husky side, because her breathing had gone completely to pot as soon as he'd touched her. She'd been telling herself all week not to keep thinking about him because she kept finding her mind drifting to him when she was supposed to be concentrating on other things, and that he'd said he was going to Phoebe's wedding with her as a friend, well they'd been a bit more than friends for a few hours, but that was all. There'd been no promises of anything else, but then he'd put his arms round her and pulled her against him and she'd breathed in that lovely clean smell of his, that mixture of fabric conditioner from his shirt and aftershave or shower gel or soap or whatever it was he'd used that smelled so nice and all she could think now was that she'd smelled that same smell just before he'd kissed her the first time, and that all she wanted to do was nuzzle into him and keep on breathing it.

His voice was soft and low so she didn't catch what he said when he breathed out a couple of words against her hair. In spite of the million hair pins and the gallon of hairspray holding her French plait in place, his breath was ruffling her hair so that the attraction or whatever it was she was feeling, lust probably, was stopping her from thinking clearly as all the feelings she'd been trying to hide or at least keep in check since she'd seen him walk through the door at the reception were threatening to swamp her.

The weather had been quite nice all week, sunny and quite warm for May, so that every bloody chance she'd got she'd been sitting on the steps outside the Lecture Theatre with her jeans rolled up as far as they would go above her knees trying to get her legs a bit brown even though her dress was going to cover them. And for the first time ever she'd managed to shave her legs above her knees without cutting herself to bloody ribbons, literally, and she'd done the best she could to tidy everything else by giving herself a bit of a trim with nail scissors. She'd have loved to have gone for a wax like Phoebe did, and even Bella sometimes, but she definitely hadn't got enough money for anything like that, and anyhow that felt like it would be a bit _previous_. It would be like she was assuming she was going to sleep with him, which if she was being honest was true, but he hadn't actually said and it wasn't as if he hadn't got form for changing his bloody mind.

"Molly?"

"Charlie?"

"That dress is very beautiful and you look very, very beautiful in it …. have I already told you that?" His voice was still low and soft but now had a definite hint of amusement in it so she could hear the smile in his voice as she nodded "Good, now can I ask you something else?" He waited for her to nod again before smirking and putting his head back to laugh out loud "Where's the bloody zip?"

She was almost helpless with giggles as she lifted up her arm and pointed to the zip that was concealed in the side seam and then put her fingers on it and pulled it down, enjoying the slippery cool feeling of the satin as it slid down her body and pooled round her feet on the floor. There was this tiny involuntary intake of breath from him as she stepped out of it and stood in front of him, just gazing at him, wearing her knickers and 'fuck me' sandals and nothing else, and then bent down and picked the dress up. It had cost a fucking fortune and even if she couldn't think of anywhere she was likely to ever wear it again, she still felt that the least she could do was get it off of the floor and hang it up, or put it on the back of a chair or something.

He didn't say a word, was just watching her with his eyes hooded as she dumped the frock on the bed and turned back to face him before arching forward and putting her hand on his chest and looking up into his eyes, the pupils were so enlarged that his brown eyes looked almost black as he gazed at her, still without speaking.

"How come you always end up wearing your clothes when mine are on the bloody floor?"

He didn't answer her, just kept gazing steadily into her eyes and held his arms out in front of her then turned his wrists upwards in a mute invitation for her to undo his cuff-links. Despite the fact that she was fumbling badly with them because she was trying to undo them without taking her gaze away from his eyes, she eventually managed to pull his shirt loose from the waistband of his trousers but in her haste to pull it off she tried to tug it over his head without stopping to undo the buttons first, getting his head stuck in it.

"Hang on" He struggled back into it and undid the top few buttons before managing to pull it over his head.

"Sorry" She was actually mortified at the way she'd just demonstrated her total lack of smooth seduction techniques "I'm a bit shit at this"

"Don't …. And no, you're not, you're perfect"

He put his index finger gently against her mouth to tell her to stop it and then pressed his thumb lightly into the tiny indentation in the small of her back before bending forward to kiss her neck, his breath heavy against her ear agitating all the loose hairs that were floating at the back of her neck. Her head seemed to move of her own accord towards him as she wanted to beg him to please hurry up and kiss her properly but he didn't seem to notice. He was in no hurry, just kept on dropping tiny barely there little kisses under her ear and then round her neck and under her jaw and up her cheek to her temple, and then back again to the corner of her mouth where his lips lingered … and then down the side of her throat as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes desperate to encourage him not to stop what he was doing ….. but to also just get on and kiss her properly because the anticipation, the need that was building in her, the desire to kiss him and to feel him kiss her, was beginning to drive her nuts.

He finally moved lips to meet hers and began to kiss her slowly and tightened his arms to hold her against the hard length of him, until all she could think of was how much she wanted to be skin to skin with him, she was so lost in the sensation of him that she couldn't even feel her feet as her tongue began teasing his and he groaned when she nipped his bottom lip. He pressed her harder and harder against him until she began to stroke down his back, loving the feel of silky skin with the well-defined muscles under it and then cup his arse which made him groan. He sucked in a deep breath and held it, doing his best to help her to get the button of his trousers undone, but even then it was too difficult with the way his erection was straining the fabric, and even when he took over he had a struggle to free himself.

"Hey you"

He put his finger under her chin and tipped her head up, forcing her to look at him before he began to kiss her again, he'd seen something in her eyes or in the way she'd hesitated for a second that felt like that tiny feeling in his gut that he'd had when they'd talked on the phone, that tiny withdrawal from him as though she was protecting herself from something.

"You okay?"

"Yeah course, why wouldn't I be?"

She pressed herself against him as though she was trying to reassure him and he pulled her to even closer to start kissing her on the neck and then down to the pulse that was beating frantically in her throat before he hooked his fingers in the lace trim on the top of her knickers and slid them down her legs, lifting first one foot then the other to pull them free of the spiky heels of her sandals.

"Are you going to take those off? They look bloody lethal … might do me a damage"

His voice was little more than a growl as he swung her up off her feet and she wound her legs round his waist, before she laughed and dropped back to the floor to undo and kick the sandals off before she wound herself round him again.

-OG-

"Wow" He laughed as she pushed him until the backs of his knees hit the bed and he fell backwards across it with her on top of him, her hand was pushing him down so that she could feel the granite of his muscles trembling under the skin where she touched him. "Impressive move you've got there"

"You'd better 'ave a condom somewhere 'ere, I 'aven't"

"Bugger, knew there was something" He laughed quietly at her outraged expression and then put a hand up to stroke her face, so that she could feel the tremor in his fingers "Sorry, in my pocket"

"You keep winding me up like that you won't bloody need one"

The first rise of her hips had his head tipping back so he could look at her face, his own was a mask of serious intensity as he gritted his teeth as she moved again and kept on moving until he was moaning with pleasure. He stroked her body and palmed her breasts as her hips rolled forward and her head rolled back in the passionate intensity of her movement on him so that he put his hands on her hips to hold her to him and to help her to move, help her to quicken the pace as they both began to crave more, more speed and more intensity as the sensations built to the point that the gates of pleasure were opening for both of them, until she crashed into a soul ripping, heart stopping orgasm then looked into his eyes as he followed suit.

-OG-

Suddenly even though she was seeing the world through a happy haze of Champagne and the afterglow of amazing sex, this felt fraught with danger. She'd invited him to go to Phoebe's wedding when she'd been in this same rosy glow of satisfaction and had hated the thought that was all there was going to be, so it had been an excuse for her to spend time with him again. She'd thought that there wasn't supposed to be a shit-load of emotion involved, for one thing she hadn't got the time for a serious crush, in fact she hadn't got the time or the inclination for any of that, what was it they said? Been there, done that, got the bloody scars to prove it.


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: Thank you for your feed-back – hope that you're not getting too impatient with the pace of their developing relationship, or with Molly's determination that they are temporary….**_

"N _ice_ ….. suits you"

He was standing in the doorway to the bathroom wearing just a small towel tied loosely round his hips and had made her jump so that she turned round to look at him when he spoke, feeling as if she was waking up from a dream when she noticed him, she'd been fucking miles away thinking about stuff, or over-thinking as Max used to call it.

"Nice... is that all you gotta say? Nice, not _lovely_ or nothing?"

"Of course you are … but I was talking about the shirt not the person in it"

"Oh … thought it was ….. alright ….. bit on the roomy side of course, bit big, but still …"

"You look lovely …. and every time I wear it in the future I'll be thinking of you inside it"

"Yeah alright no need to overdo it"

"I'm not" He was having a hard job keeping the happy smirk off his face "I meant it, every word"

"Oi, just realized ….. you sayin' I might gonna 'ave to give it back? Oh bummer"

"And are you saying that you want to deprive me of picturing you in it every time I wear it or …. wash it?"

"You telling me you do your own washing 'n ironing?"

"Umm …. yup … ….. I have to when the servants are on a day off?"

"You're taking the piss aren't you?"

"Of course I am …. you don't really think I've got servants do you?" He was trying not to laugh at her as he winked and then gave a rueful little 'tutt tutt' while doing a slow side to side shake of his head.

"You telling me that you 'aven't, posh bugger like you?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no afraid not"

"I tell you what, I will admit that it looks very sexy on you, but I don't know whether I'll let you keep it, that all depends on how hard you try to persuade me" He winked at her again "But in the meantime I think we should put the pillows back, don't you?"

"I didn't put 'em down there, it was you did that"

"Was it? Are you sure? … Oh yes I remember now" He smirked happily at her "I'll tell you what … food … let's have a quick look and choose and we can get comfortable in bed to eat it"

He began to put the pillows back and then squatted down and steadied himself with one hand on the edge of the bed when he stretched out his arm to retrieve the boxers and a single sock from where they'd ended up underneath as Molly went back to trying to concentrate on taking out the hair pins that were pinching her scalp. She was having to do it very carefully, finding and taking each one out individually because she'd found out the hard way that if she tugged at them it was so bloody painful it made her eyes stream, but she'd had this sudden desperate urge to get rid of all the hardware and to shake her head about a bit. The whole tightness of the way the hairdresser had pinned it up was giving her a headache, although it could have been the start of an hangover, but she'd put his shirt on to cover up while she sorted her hair out because she was, well a bit self-conscious about sitting there without a stitch on now that they'd come back down to earth, and also because when she'd picked it up off of the floor the shirt had smelled of him. She'd thought about putting it in her case and simply nicking it so that she could take it home with her and could sniff at it whenever she wanted, but he'd know what she'd done when he couldn't find it in the morning and she couldn't for the life of her come up with a reasonable lie about where it might have got to ...

After he'd disappeared to the bathroom to sort himself out she'd checked her phone to make sure there was nothing going on that she needed to know about, that no-one had died or been arrested, and had deleted his texts and was just about to get going on the messages that he'd left for her when he'd been trying to park, but decided at the last minute that she would keep maybe just one of them or even two so that she could listen to his voice when, well, after she'd gone back home.

And now he was standing there almost naked and seriously distracting her from her hair because she couldn't stop staring at his back, she couldn't help it but it was like he was some sort of magnet for her so that her eyes were glued on the way his muscles flexed under the skin when he moved and at how slim his waist was and his hips, they looked like they might even be slimmer than hers, which was a bit of a worry, but what she wanted right now was to get right back in bed with him, only not for food. She wasn't even a tiny bit hungry but knew that he possibly was, well, it'd sounded like it from his voice when he'd said about choosing something to eat and it had been a bleeding long time since they'd eaten whatever it was they'd eaten at the wedding.

"Why the fuck would anyone need all these bloody pillows anyway?"

"Don't think they actually NEED them, think the hotel just puts them there to look …. dunno, pretty or something … well, not unless you've got heart failure 'n you need to sleep sitting up of course"

"Right ….. Molly?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you looking at me like that for?"

"Like what?"

To her absolute horror there was an almost instantaneous flush of heat starting to creep its way up her neck and then into her face until her cheeks began to feel as if they were on fire. She hastily averted her gaze and tried hard to give him the impression her attention had been one hundred percent focused on getting the pins out of her hair, something that seemed even more difficult now with the way her hands seemed to be trembling. She hadn't meant to be quite so obviously looking at him like that, or at least she hadn't meant for him to notice her doing it.

"Mind … here ….. I'll do it, bend your head forward"

He perched his bum on the bed behind her, gently pushing her hands away from the back of her head and started carefully removing the remaining hair pins while Molly struggled to control her breathing. His long fingers were lightly touching her head and neck as he felt around to see if there were any more pins lurking anywhere before he buried them in her loosened hair and ruffled it. She wanted to scream at him, to tell him to stop it, that she liked it too much and that touching her head like that was going to drive her nuts.

"I think that's all of them … does that feel any better?"

"Yeah … much ….. ta"

She was acutely aware of his naked body behind her and that if she just shuffled her bum back a couple of inches she would be able to lean against him as his hands stroked slowly over her shoulders until they got to the tops of her arms where he squeezed her gently.

"Food?"

"Not fussed, I'm really not very 'ungry"

"Aren't you? I am"

He moved to get into bed and then sighed with contentment when he leaned his back against the pillows he'd piled against the headboard. He reached out for her and pulled her backwards until he'd settled her into the gap between his legs so that she could lean back and use his chest as a backrest when he put his chin on her shoulder to look at the room service menu.

"Are you sure you're not hungry?"

"Ummm …. well, dunno, maybe a little bit … might have something after all"

"It looks good doesn't it?"

The minute she clapped eyes on an illustration of some kind of up-market mini burger on a brioche bun, whatever the fuck that was, nestled enticingly on a heap of golden chips with the whole thing decorated with what the little bleeders called weeds, her stomach had begun to protest, had done the pinching thing to tell her that she was in fact absolutely bloody ravenous.

"Do you want chips with it?"

"Nah, you're alright"

She thought asking for chips on top would make her look a bit on the greedy side seeing as how she'd said she wasn't hungry, and anyway if he had some she could always nick the odd one off of his plate.

"I'm going to have some … and you needn't think I'm going to share them"

Shit, when did he get to be a bloody mind reader? But his chest was vibrating as he laughed to obviously take the sting out of the words when she tried to swivel her head round and look at him, see if she could judge how serious he was, but decided to be all ladylike instead and to nod and shrug and pretend she'd meant what she'd said when she'd lied and told him that she really didn't want any. But why the fuckety fuck she'd done it she had no clue. Charles pushed her hair to one side with his chin and dropped a kiss on her neck and then suggested ordering a slice of the cheesecake with the strawberries dipped in chocolate on it instead, saying they could share if she really wasn't hungry, but even the thought of it made her stomach grumble loudly, as he began to laugh …

"Ten minutes" He put the phone back and checked his watch to see what time it actually was.

"What to cook burgers? Nah, gonna take them way longer than that to cook them and get them 'ere, otherwise they'll still be bloody raw" She shuffled her bum back against his groin "What shall we do while we're waiting?"

"Not that ….. have a bit of patience" He snorted a laugh against the skin on the back of her neck "And stop it, stop bloody moving back and stop bloody wriggling your lovely bum around like that, the food is going to be here in a minute and one of us is going to have to get up and let them in … and at this rate that's going to have to be you"

"It's been more than a week now"

"No … I think I make you wrong on that" He sniggered and made a big production of picking up his watch from the bedside table to check the time again "It's been … let me see now …..not quite 4 minutes"

"You're not funny, you know that don't you?" She was laughing in spite of herself "You know exactly what I mean, a week since you met me" She shuffled back again slightly so that she could press against the long hard length of him and then giggled when he lifted her away fractionally "What did you think, first time you saw me?"

"What, when you tried to cripple me with that fucking monstrosity?" He nodded to indicate Bella's pink case "I thought that you were … maybe ….. 16? …. and possibly a football hooligan … you were wearing the shirt, remember?"

"That's me West Ham shirt, it's a sign of good taste mate ….. and later on?"

"Good taste? Hmmm … later on I still thought you were 16, far too young to be drinking in a bar anyway, and that you were, let's see if I can remember, oh yes I thought you were bloody gorgeous and that your ambition was probably to be, I don't know, a model or maybe to appear on some reality show"

"WHAT?"

He stopped laughing to very hastily contradict himself in the face of her obvious outrage at what he'd just said. She'd inhaled a huge gulp of air and was getting ready to give him hell for all sorts of reasons, but he'd actually meant it as a bit of a joke, an ill-thought out joke that had backfired on him in the worst way possible.

"I got it completely wrong of course ….. I got it all arse backwards …"

"People are always telling me about how I make a crap first impression, but I'm not the only one, I mean, I was right wasn't I when I had you down as a posh twat, I called you Mr Darcy in me head"

"Lovely ….. so I looked like the sort of bloke who'd risk some horrible disease by swimming in a pond where there are rats and who'd risk getting bloody pneumonia by standing around in a wet blouse?"

"Yeah sounds about right … 'n how do you know about any of that anyhow?"

"My mother's favourite, she makes me watch it all the time, I think she hopes some of his charm will rub off on me"

"Really?" She shrugged and smirked to show she wasn't seriously insulting him "Wouldn't have thought there was much bleeding chance of that"

"Nope ….. none at all, but it is her favourite ….. although I might have to refuse to watch it in future"

"I think wet blouses look dead sexy"

"Thanks, I'll remember that"

"Not on you, on Darcy … and it weren't that made me think you was like him, it was the way you had a stick rammed up your arse like he does"

"Lovely … and now?"

"Well, you haven't changed that much 'ave you?" She swallowed hard and tried to control the overpowering urge she had to laugh at him "It's only been a week, so it's still there innit, the stick I mean, might take me a bit longer than that to get rid of it completely"

She gulped suddenly horribly aware of what she'd just said and desperate now to change the subject, why the fuck had her mouth just said something so utterly stupid?

-OG-

Molly hadn't ended up having to get out of bed to let the room service waiter wheel his trolley in, Charles had got up before the knock had on the door and zipped himself into a pair of jeans which despite Molly's best efforts and giggles, somehow managed to disguise the fact that there was a tent in his groin.

"Oi" He pushed her hand away as she helped herself to another chip off his plate "I thought you said you didn't want chips"

"What? You sayin' you don't wanna share your chips with me? Anyhow, I'm doing you a favour eating them, they're bad for you so I'm only eating them to save you from an heart attack or something, I'm just making sure you don't have a Julius Ceasar from eating fried stuff"

"Excuse me, but I'm not that old … not yet anyway, and these are probably oven chips …. Anyway what about them being bad for you?"

"Nah, don't count when you eat them off of someone else's plate … everyone knows that"

They ended up with Brioche crumbs in the bed and smears of ketchup on the sheet together with sticky fingers after they'd finished eating the burgers, which Molly had thought tasted lovely, although she could take or leave the buns, Mother's Pride would have done her, but they were a bit on the small side so despite the fact that she'd eaten most of the chips she could have done with another one. They'd fed spoons full of cheesecake to one another, exchanging longer and longer and more and more passionate kisses between each mouth full, until Charles had eventually shoved all the debris back on the trolley and pushed it out into the corridor, absolutely bloody determined that no-one was going to come knocking on the door looking for it in the near future.

-OG-

By rights, she should have been asleep long before, even before the springs hit the floor as her granddad used to say at bedtime, but in spite of the long, long day she'd had and the fact that she was bone weary, with muscles aching that she'd forgotten she'd got, especially in her thighs, she couldn't quite drop off. A gloriously naked Charles was fast asleep next to her, sprawled out in the rumpled king-sized bed with his legs still entwined with hers and his breathing soft against her neck as she lay with her head on the pillow and watched the way his eyelashes trembled and fluttered on his cheekbones. It had been a bleeding long time since she'd slept in the same bed as someone, but she didn't think it was that that was stopping her from going to sleep.

She had this feeling of fear in the pit of her stomach, the feeling that you get when you stand too near to some sheer drop, well the feeling that she got anyway because she bloody hated heights. He was a lovely bloke and not only the way he looked, he would still be lovely even if he was one of Bella's fuglies, her name for the blokes she met who were, in her opinion, fucking ugly, which was most of them, but Charles was not only drop dead gorgeous but he also deserved someone a lot better than her.

Everyone had kept telling her she was selfish and that she was being too hasty when she'd made everything else more important than the life she'd thought she was going to have with Max and that she was letting him down, but she hadn't needed anyone to tell her that, she'd known. She had loved him, or thought she did, but when push had come to shove it hadn't been enough so that when all the shit had stopped hitting the fan and everything had settled down in her world, she'd promised herself she wouldn't ever go there again, a promise she was going to keep.

If she'd been any sort of nice person she'd have lied to Charlie and told him she had to work the next day when he'd asked, but she hadn't, so he'd made all these plans about going into London for the day, to maybe go on a river trip together and he'd said about going up the top of the Shard, which was a crap idea if ever she'd heard one, but even if she wasn't going to do that at any price, she did want to spend a few more hours with him before they went their separate ways.

-OG-


	14. Chapter 14

"Good morning"

He'd either woken up very early so had been awake for a while or he was one of those bloody irritating people who wake up all bright-eyed and bushy tailed no matter what time they'd hit their pit the night before. Molly wasn't sure, she just knew she wasn't, but she suspected that he was given his love of running in what had felt to her like the middle of the bloody night. But even without sleeping with him, or at least sharing a bed with him, and spending half the night tossing and turning and trying to get off to sleep, this wasn't by any stretch of the imagination her best time of day, and it wasn't the romantic morning after the night before of anyone's bloody dreams either, this was more than a little bit shit. When she finally had managed to force her gummy eyelids open a crack she was muzzy headed and head achy, sleepy as fuck with a mouth that was all parched from sleeping with it wide open so it was odds on she'd been driving them home, snoring or dribbling or something equally sexy so that her early morning gob felt like the Gobi desert with dragon breath to go with it. She'd certainly had days when she'd woken up feeling better.

"Mornin'"

She'd turned her head away hastily before she'd answered, acutely aware of the need to make sure she wasn't treating him to a blast of breath that would of stripped the wallpaper off the walls as Nan would say.

"Sorry, I need to pe… gotta go to the loo"

She was dreading what she would see in the bathroom mirror but couldn't keep her eyes closed forever, so sooner or later she was actually going to have to look, so opened her eyes slowly and then felt a quick flood of, well, relief or something, because actually she didn't look anywhere near as shit as she thought she did. It was true she'd had days when she'd looked better, but she'd also had them where she'd looked far, far worse and had been expecting the worst, she'd really thought she'd see that familiar little grey faced object with tangled hair and green eyes like road maps. But it wasn't that bad. Okay, there was a shit load of mascara in the bags under her eyes and there were bits of sleep stuck in her lashes, hardly surprising seeing as she was pretty bloody sure she hadn't got around to cleaning her make-up off the night before, she'd been a bit _occupied._ But It was the way her teeth and tongue felt that worried her, they were so coated and _covered in_ _fur_ that she was afraid she'd been dead slutty and hadn't brushed her teeth either before she'd gone to bed. She simply couldn't remember now.

Giving her face a good wash with lots of cold water helped quite a lot, but not as much as giving her teeth a really good prolonged scrubbing, as well as scraping the fur off her tongue having to do her best not to retch while she did it. She held her hair back out the way and managed to get her mouth underneath the cold water tap so she could gratefully glug down a couple of pints of the water Max would have told her not to drink because it was coming straight out the tank in the roof so would be full of all sorts of horrible shit, bacteria and that. But she didn't give a toss about any of that now, she had other things on her mind, one of which, well, the most important of which was to take a deep breath and go back in the bedroom to face him.

He had obviously been watching the door judging by the wide grin that appeared on his face as soon as she moved back into the bedroom and he sat back against the piled up pillows and folded his arms behind his head, before pulling back the duvet and patting the sheet next to him still with the widest possible smirk on his face as he invited her to get back in bed with him. That grin told her more than any words could just how happy he was as he leaned over to kiss her.

"Hey you, that's not fair, you've brushed your teeth"

"Yeah … well, I bloody needed to"

"No more than me" He swung his legs round to get out of bed and then started to search around for his boxers, finally finding them on the floor and pulling them on, a thoroughly retrograde step in her opinion, before he turned back to look at her over his shoulder and grinned again "Don't go anywhere …. Stay right where you are ….. and that's an order"

"Oi, thought we'd already said you can't give me orders …. I don't do all that saluting 'n shit, remember?"

"Right … stay exactly where you are then … please"

"That's better … okay …. well, seeing as how it's you and you asked me so nicely"

-OG-

It was a beautiful early summers day, warm and sunny with tiny puffs of white clouds being blown along in a bit of the stiff breeze that was blowing her hair about so it was flying around like flags and she had to keep putting her hands up and pushing it back when it covered her face, but it wasn't anywhere near windy enough to make it anything other than the sort of morning where you feel happy to be outside. They'd given the trip up the Shard a miss when she'd admitted to him that she was bloody terrified of heights and that although she'd go with him if he insisted, that she would have to keep her eyes shut the whole time she was up there and even though he'd laughed and pretended not to be sympathetic, he'd hugged her. And then said he was going to take her up the Eiffel Tower to cure her of her phobia so that she'd laughed slightly manically and warned him that if he even tried, she was going to go shopping instead and would wave him goodbye as he went and would see him when he got back down if he hadn't fallen off and neither of them said anything about the fact, or even seemed to notice, that they were talking about a future that was at best nebulous, and that most probably wouldn't ever exist.

The river steamer wasn't that crowded for a nice Sunday morning at the start of the season, although there were a fair number of tourists on board all of whom seemed to be enjoying the sights so that there was the buzz of a happy babble of different languages surrounding them even though they weren't actually saying anything to one another. They were just standing side by side with their shoulders touching in a companionable silence, leaning on the railings as they looked at the historic buildings on both banks and at the way the sun was shining off the river as Molly put her hand up to keep her hair back from her face and they just glanced occasionally at one another, turning their heads and smiling into each other's eyes.

The quayside and the river bank at Richmond had been a bit crowded to say the least but they'd walked along until they'd found a café where they could sit at a table outside by the water and eat ham baguettes in a happy bubble of just being somewhere together, just sitting where the sun was shining and where they didn't know a soul except each other. And then when they'd finished eating they'd set out on a slow walk along the towpath, not really aiming to go anywhere in particular, not really having anywhere that they needed to go, just to all intents and purposes being a couple out for a Sunday afternoon stroll in the warm sunshine as he slung his arm across her shoulders and she tucked her fingers into the back pocket of his jeans and they exchanged just the odd desultory word and grinned at each other occasionally.

The quiet hilly patch of scrubby grass seemed ideal for them to just sit and watch as people passed below them on the river path. A lot of the passers-by were eating ice cream or had buggies and dogs or both and some were yelling at their kids and some were feeding the ducks, in spite of all the little notices telling them it was forbidden, and there were loads of little boats to watch as they chugged up and down on the water. Charles wanted to go and find the hire place, suggesting they could do the whole touristy thing and get one and take a little ride further up the river, but Molly had to admit she was dead sorry but couldn't swim so even if they gave her a life jacket to wear she'd still be afraid of getting too close to water and falling in as well as being afraid of heights, but that he could forget any bright ideas he had about chucking her in to cure her.

"Would I do something like that?"

"You'd bloody better not"

"I would never do anything to hurt you"

His words immediately sent a tiny little frisson of alarm through her. The whole day had been lovely and all her muscles had been reminding her every time she moved of just how lovely it had started out that morning when he'd come back to bed and flashed his pearly whites at her before rolling her on her back and flinging the pillows back down on the floor again, and that it had been just as lovely as it had been both times the night before. But it was like she had this stop-watch running in her head that wouldn't stop ticking, so that ever since they'd got on the train to London, she'd been horribly aware of time slipping past and that their weekend was almost over, and that she was waiting for the spell to wear off.

There was a distinct smell of flattened grass that for some reason reminded her of the smell of sun-cream, although she hadn't used any and didn't think he had either, but there was also the familiar smell of him as she lay back with his head resting on her stomach and she twiddled her fingers in his curls looking up at the sky through the branches of some skinny tree, suddenly happy to be exactly where she was, but shit scared at the same time that this was the last time she was going to feel like this.

"You got any photos of your little boy, you know, on your phone?"

"Sammie? Yup …. just the odd few thousand ….. here"

He sat up and started to flick through the photos on his phone intermittently showing her snaps of a dark curly haired little boy with chocolate brown eyes with a serious expression on his face so that he looked a bit worried, and then pausing to smile as he got to a series that showed Sammie looking straight at his dad, well at his father's phone, with a heart-wrenching gappy grin on his face.

"He looks just like you …. he's beautiful"

"I know" He grinned at her and then laughed aloud to show that he wasn't seriously being conceited "But then I would say that wouldn't I?"

"Expect his mum had something to do with it 'n all"

"Indeed"

Molly took the phone out of his hand and continued to swipe the screen to look at more of the pictures he'd got stored on there. She was actually hoping she might come across a stray one or two of Rebecca, but without any luck, although there were one or two with an elderly couple, obviously his mum and dad.

"I know you said that getting with people was all about chemistry 'n that, well 'n luck obviously, but it's not, not really, it's …. you know …. it's all about females choosing a male who's got the most superior genetic material as a mate to have kids with, well as far as she can tell anyhow" She giggled "Apart from when she's bloody hammered 'n then of course she can't think straight"

Shit, it was nearly time for them to walk back and get a boat back to Tower Bridge, so what the fuck was she thinking of talking about Rebecca?

"Is that what you're doing then? Looking for a mate to have your children with?"

"Nah …. Of course not, sorry did I scare you?" She giggled "I can hardly look after meself let alone start having kids to look after 'n all, nah, I was just talking general about what me Biology lecturer told us, mind you she was talking about animals in the wild ….. still no different to some of the places I've been for an evening out, not that I was on the prowl"

"Of course not ….. Molly, about Sammie … and next weekend"

"Yeah, about that …. I know that you're off to Bath to see him …."

"I was going to ask you if you wanted to come to Bath with me"

"Nah … I can't, but thanks anyway, it's really nice of you, but I've gotta work, you know I usually work on Sat'days and Sundays, well as a rule I do …. 'n anyway, it's not really a very good idea is it?" She shrugged "To start introducing Sammie to people that you …. sort of hardly know yourself…. you'll confuse him …. sorry" She grimaced at the expression on his face, she hadn't meant to make it sound as if she didn't know him, or like him, she did, but it was too bleeding complicated and she wouldn't know where or how to start to explain it to him "I had a really nice time this weekend …"

"Yup, I did as well ….. and?"

"What do you mean?"

"There was definitely an 'and' in there somewhere …."

"I'm really fond of you"

"I'm very glad to hear it …. but…..? Because now there's definitely a but in there somewhere"

He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and tugged at the curls before looking up into her worried little face "Don't bother saying anything to deny it Molly, I might not have known you very long but I can read you like a book …. but one thing you do need to know is that I would never, ever ask you to give up what you're doing just to please me, I know how important it is to you, and you are going to be brilliant, and I really admire you for it, and oh fuck, I didn't mean that to sound patronizing and I'm really sorry if that was how it sounded, and I do know it wouldn't be easy, you and me, but it wouldn't be impossible either, we can find a way ….. well, only if that was what you wanted to do"

"You don't understand … you don't get it"

"What don't I get? Has this got something to do with, what was his name, Max?" His face was a stern mask, not showing any emotion "Should I be worried about him? I know you said that you weren't together anymore and that he'd gone back home to Australia, but even so, just tell me if that's what it is"

"Nah, it's not that"

"Are you sure? I mean, I know it's the other side of the world …. But it only takes a few hours on a plane so it would only take him a day or so to get back, and sorting out a Visa certainly wouldn't be impossible, would it?"

"Honestly nah, it's not Max" She swallowed hard "He's not gonna get a Visa and hop on a plane to come back …. Max is …. Max is dead, Charlie …. and it was my fault, I killed him"

-OG-

 **A/N: I had half expected that someone would have guessed that this was the elephant in the room that was proving to be the stumbling block in Molly's world, I thought I'd really telegraphed it but maybe that was because I knew, so I thought it was obvious.**


	15. Chapter 15

"Shit Molls, what _**are**_ you listening to?"

Bella banged open the bedroom door so hard that she'd almost taken it off the hinges as she flounced in and started shedding clothes as she went, dropping them on the floor which Molly knew was where they'd stay unless she picked them up, Bella wasn't known for her neat habits.

"Its bloody shite" She leaned over and zapped the sound on the ipad without asking her sister if she minded.

"Oi ….. I was listening to that, I like it"

"Well I don't"

"It's Adele, and if you don't bloody like it, don't listen …. and you're off out anyway so just bleeding turn it back on"

"Nah ….. you can listen when I've gone"

It was pointless for Molly to argue any further, in any case Bella wouldn't take a blind bit of notice unless she wanted to, so Molly just went back to pretending she was reading the text book that she'd picked up as a hasty smokescreen to hide the fact that she'd just been laying there doing bugger all, just thinking.

"'ere, who's the bloke you took to the wedding?"

"How d'you know about him?"

"Just talk down the pub …. But how come I didn't know anything about it, who is he and where the fuck did you find him? ….. go on, you can tell me" Bella gave her what she thought was a caring and encouragingly ingratiating smile and then sniggered loudly "I won't tell no-one"

"No course you won't" Molly grinned at her sister suspiciously, Bella was not above broadcasting to the entire pub if she got hammered enough "You 'aven't bloody said nothing to anyone already have you? Mum or Nan?"

"Nah … can't can I when I know fuck-all"

"Since when has that got in your way? ….….. and there's fuck all _to_ know, okay?"

It had been a very long and shitty week and she was tired and lonely and thoroughly pissed off with life. Suddenly there was a big hole in her life, and nothing to look forward to and the weather had turned all humid and sticky so it had been hard to concentrate on boring shit lectures sitting in a lecture hall that was supposedly air-conditioned, but air-conditioned her arse. It was hot and stuffy and all she could think was why the fuck people with the worst stink had to come and sit anywhere near her. There were plenty of places they could have sat, so didn't they know that not everyone loves the smell of yesterday's curry, or last night's beer, or their unwashed pits?

She'd done her usual dead bloody boring Saturday shift in the supermarket and had done her best to smile at people she bloody _hated_ and had then got a bus home instead of walking like she usually did, she'd just wanted to get home and lie on her bed, have a cup of tea and _think_ , and alright to maybe feel just a little bit sorry for herself in peace. And now she wanted Bella to sod off and leave her alone. There was an absolute ton of Uni stuff sitting there looking at her, waiting for her to get on it but she hadn't touched it all week and there were two whole essays to write that should have been done by now so she was going to have to ask for extensions as it was, and then there was this whole bunch of reading to get through as well. But she couldn't be arsed with any of it, her head ached and her feet hurt and every time she closed her eyes she had this picture in her head of the expression on his face when she'd finished telling him about Max.

She could have drawn a picture of that face, if she could draw of course, which she couldn't. The brown eyes that went all crinkly at the edges when he smiled at her and the way his curls looked when he'd kept running his fingers through them and the looks he gave her that made her knees go weak and the way he laughed and showed off his lovely white teeth, all of it. All the things that made it dead hard now for her to drop off even though she was tired and fed up but the tiny cluttered room that she shared with Bella felt all hot and stuffy and claustrophobic.

One of the big problems of being back at home apart from the lack of privacy from annoying bloody sisters was that she couldn't even have a good bawl when she wanted. All the way home last Sunday she'd kept fighting back the tears and telling herself she could cry when she got home, but then of course she couldn't, not without having to tell them all what was wrong, and there was no way that was going to happen. Before Brighton the thought of getting out of here had been right at the top of her wish list, along with getting a cat and having enough money to go to Marks and buy a whole load of knickers to replace all her old grey ones instead of just the one pair to wear to the wedding. And that wish was still there, but now at the top was the wish that she'd kept her gob shut, that she'd just enjoyed it while it had lasted, she wished more than anything that she hadn't told him any of it.

In the middle of the week she'd googled Bath to see if she could have a good nosey and get a bit of an idea of what it was like, which she had with a mounting sense of horror, it was bleeding nothing like east Ham that was for sure. So earlier on that evening when she'd been sitting on the bus and resting her head against the glass she'd been sort of imagining him there with his little boy, walking around the posh bits of the town, which looked like most of it to her, and then the pair of them running around and having fun in the garden she'd glimpsed in that photo with his mum and dad, although why she was torturing herself thinking like that she hadn't got a clue. Except it was marginally better than thinking about walking by the river with him in the sunshine, or eating bloody cheesecake in bed. That was far, far worse.

"So what's his name, then?"

"Who?"

"This bloke of yours"

"He's not mine, and why do you wanna know anyhow? ….. Look, he's a friend who came to the wedding with me, 'n that's all"

She ostentatiously stuck her finger on the page half way down the text she was pretending to read, making out that she was marking her place but really doing her best to give Bella the impression she was interrupting. But her little sister took no notice as she perched herself on the end of the bed and stared at her. She obviously had no intention of moving till she'd got Molly to spill the beans, and there was always a danger that if Bella got hold of the idea there was something to hide, she'd never let it go, so that in the silence that had sprung up between them Molly couldn't think of a single good reason, apart from habit of never telling any of them anything, why it would be better if she didn't tell her sister his name. In any case she wanted to hear herself say it out loud.

"It's Charlie …. well, it's Charles, but I call him Charlie because it bloody annoys him, and before you ask, I don't know him that well, haven't known him long …. but he's a ….. nice bloke …. 'n I said, didn't I, he's just a friend"

"Bleeding friendly friend from what I heard …. good-looking 'n all"

"Yeah, s'pose"

She hadn't looked at him when she'd finished telling him, she hadn't wanted to see the censure on his face as she fell off the pedestal he'd put her on with a resounding crash and it was, in fact, the first time she'd ever told anyone outside of the family about it. The horror had meant she'd shut her brain off and refused to even think about it, had put the whole thing in a sealed box in her head and hidden it in whatever was the equivalent of a cupboard under the stairs. Of course people apart from her knew. Phoebe for one and the Dickhead Dust Dealer and of course her entire bloody family, although none of them ever mentioned anything about it, which she'd like to think was because they knew it would upset her, but knew that that was total bollocks. Then there was a whole lot of people who'd known him from his job with the council, and his mates from down the cycling club that she'd thought were a bunch of sad fuckers so had avoided them like the bloody plague when he was around and had absolutely no intention of ever speaking to any of them again now he wasn't. In fact, she wasn't even sure she'd recognize any of them, well not unless they still had lycra clad bums.

"So you didn't shag him then?"

"Who? Who you talking about?" She packed as much puzzled insouciance into her voice as she could manage, but had definitely heard herself sound more convincing.

" _Charlie_ boy _"_

"Nah, told you … we're just friends ….. mates"

Bella was still staring at her with one eyebrow arched. She knew that at best Molly was prevaricating, if not downright lying because she'd always been a shit liar so it had always been easy for her to suss her sister out.

"Alright, yeah I did, but it's not gonna happen again, so can we just shut the fuck up about it now? And him"

"Why not?" Bella ignored her request to shut up "Why isn't it gonna happen again? What you looking at me like that for? Oh please don't tell me he's one of them one nighters, only good for a one off shag and then a 'see you around' thought I'd taught you better than that"

"I'm the big sister, I'm the one s'posed to teach you stuff not the other way round, and nah, he's not like that"

Bella ignored her again "Well then ….. what's wrong with him, has he got, you know, a tiny little one?"

Bella bit her lip and started to giggle, before almost falling off the bed laughing as she held up a crooked little finger to indicate what she was talking about "Go on, you can tell me"

"Nah he hasn't" Molly was now giggling along with her sister, the first time that she'd felt like laughing in days "And as if I'd bloody tell you if he had … but he 'asn't"

"You sure?"

"Yeah" Molly wanted to keep on laughing, but needed to stop at the same time, if she carried on laughing for much longer she'd be crying instead "Look, I fucked it up Bels, it was me, I fucked up"

"What did you do?"

"Scared the bloody shit out of him" Bella burst into fresh peals of laughter which set Molly off again even though the memory had her flushing scarlet with mortification "Shut up …. I dunno why, but I told him …" She chewed her bottom lip "I said he was the sort of superior genetic material that women pick if they want to get up the duff … I think he thought I was talking about me"

"Shit, you didn't …. Oh stop it ….. I'm gonna wet meself in a minute"

"I did …. I mean I did tell him after that I wasn't talking about me, that I wasn't looking to get knocked up or nothing …. But I'm not sure he believed me …. and stop laughing, it's not funny"

"And he dumped you cos of that?"

"Nah … 'n he didn't dump me …. No-one dumped anyone, well, not exactly" Molly rooted around under her pillow until she found a tissue to wipe away her tears which were rapidly becoming a mixture of laughter and misery, and then sniffed loudly before blowing her nose, adding softly "Told him about Max didn't I, and what happened"

-OG-

"Careful, mind the flowers"

Charles was sitting on the back doorstep at his parents' house and sipping at a mug of coffee as he watched Sam charge around the garden in the early evening sunshine. Sam was kicking a ball for Toffee, his parents' almost Boxer dog to chase, a ball which seemed with unerring accuracy to keep ending up in his mother's carefully tended flower beds, as the dog trampled on stuff and then rooted around under the bushes with his stumpy tail going nineteen to the dozen until emerging triumphantly with the deflated football in his mouth, and bounding back to Sam ready for another go.

"Sorry ….. he didn't mean it"

"Not him, I wasn't talking about him, you've got to be careful of Granny's garden"

"Sorry"

Charles was tired and a bit low and knew that normally he'd be on that lawn playing with Sam and the dog and that at the very least he ought to be making more of an effort to exert some discipline and put a stop to what was quite obviously an accidental on purpose occurrence. But in his mind's eye he kept seeing her, sitting on that river bank with her arms wrapped round her knees as she rested her chin on them and her hair blew around and hid her face from his view as she told him in a small voice that this ex of hers had taken himself home to Australia and then killed himself. That the last time she'd seen him she'd been upset, angry, so had said a whole lot of unforgivable things, things there was no excuse for, things that she couldn't now forget.

He'd got to his feet and pulled her up brushing the bits of grass off her jean clad bum before putting his arms round her and pulling her in close for a hug, he'd wanted desperately to bring a smile back to her face and make her feel better as they turned to walk back along the towpath to the landing stage. He was acutely aware of the time and that he'd forgotten, or hadn't seen the need, to check the times of the boats back to Tower Pier and the very last thing he wanted right now was to miss the last one.

"Come on, we might have to run the last bit"

"Not sure I can"

"Of course you can … come on"

On the river boat Charles had wanted to keep prompting her until he had the whole story, apart from anything else he hadn't heard anything so far that would suggest it had been her fault, apart from some row, but he had a sinking feeling in his guts about his relationship with this girl, this beautiful, wonderful, funny _uncomplicated_ littlegirl that had turned up in his life and turned it upside down in the time he'd known her, but who it appeared had even more bloody baggage than he did.

During the afternoon with Sam, he'd finally been forced to accept that she wasn't going to call, but then he'd known that right from the start, just hadn't wanted to accept it. The rigid self discipline that he'd used to keep the checking of his phone to a minimum all week hadn't really helped either, he'd forced himself to concentrate on the day to day, but then the trouble with weekends, even a weekend with Sam and his parents, was that there was too much time to think.

She'd refused to let him drive her home, had insisted instead that she would get the train and short of manhandling her he'd been powerless to do anything about it so had settled for simply putting his forehead against hers and saying that he'd call her. But she hadn't wanted that, had quickly shaken her head and refused to meet his eyes, saying it didn't matter, which he knew was Molly speak for saying she didn't believe that he would, so he'd settled for something stupid about her calling him if he could do anything to make it better, or to just call him when she was ready. Not that it had achieved anything, all it had done was to make her actually look at him, finally, but she'd looked at him as if he was a somewhat stupid stranger who didn't understand as she'd asked him if he had a Tardis because nothing else was going to do it, and could he please stop trying to solve it, it didn't matter what he or anyone said or did, the only thing that was going to solve it was if they could turn the clock back.

So he'd actually known all along that it wasn't going to happen, she wasn't going to ring, but that hadn't stopped him telling himself that there was always a chance.

-OG-

 _ **A/N: Thank you for the feedback. I wanted to get this out today (I said I would) and if I'd gone on it would have been an extremely long chapter, so have split it. Chapter 16 is almost ready to go, it'll only be a couple of days until I move this on (as long as we don't get another bloody heatwave which robs me of the ability to think, let alone type)**_


	16. Chapter 16

"What do you mean you told him? …. Told him what?"

"About Max … what happened"

"Well, yeah it was a bit sad but ….. Oh fuck me mate, you didn't start all that bollocks about it being your fault again did you? You know it's not true, everyone's told you …. don't you ever bloody listen?"

"Yeah, but …."

"But nothing, none of it was your fault, you never did anything, you never actually stabbed him or shoved him under a bus or nothing did you, which is what I'd have done if I was you"

"Nah you wouldn't"

"I would"

"Look it _was_ my fault, I made a mistake, a bloody huge one … and it killed him, ask his mum if you don't believe me. I made a promise, Bels, and I broke it, Max was dead right, I was a fucking selfish bitch, and if it hadn't been for me …. none of it would have happened, would it? I was s'posed to love him, and I did, but not sure if it was enough"

"Max was never right about anything ….. 'n he was s'posed to love you 'n all …. But he didn't own you"

Bella moved to the middle of the floor and sat down with a thump before crossing her legs and shaking her head at her sister. She'd apparently forgotten all about getting dressed and putting on her face, but Molly wished she'd just go away, she really didn't want to hear it. All she wanted to do was be like one of the little bleeders when they were being ticked off and stick her fingers in her ears, and then start the childish 'la-la' ing and pretend she couldn't hear.

"He got on my tits 'n I couldn't see why you put up with it, he reminded me of Dad"

"Max was nothing like Dad"

"Yeah he was … sorry Molls, but he was, don't you remember how Dad was when Mum said she wanted a job? Max was like that, he didn't want you to be clever or to do anything, him and Dad were the same about it, all those little digs he kept making about how you were kidding yourself … " Bella paused and took a deep breath "I know he said he didn't mean 'em, that he was just having a laugh, but I couldn't understand why you didn't tell him it was cos he was thick as shit, and that he could fuck right off if he didn't like it"

"I thought everyone thought it was a joke, that I was a joke, you all seemed to think it was well funny, not just Dad … and Max"

"I know, sorry ….. but when you did get round to telling him you weren't gonna pack it in, suddenly he needs to go back to Australia …. so you've gotta jack it all in 'n go with him … fuck-wit"

"That was his Visa"

"No it wasn t …. Visa my arse, handy excuse was what it was, that's all"

"Don't think so"

"Well, I do"

Bella took another deep breath, she wasn't usually particularly perceptive and not at all sensitive as a rule, but this had been festering for a long time.

"I wish I was half as bloody clever as you, but you know, you can be so fucking stupid at times, 'n you've gotta stop trying to ….. make out he was some sort of perfect …. he bloody wasn't"

"I'm not that clever and really I'm not trying to say he was perfect, well don't think that I am, but he wasn't like that … he wasn't like Dad"

Molly was appalled at Bella's assessment of Max. She'd thought she was the only one who'd known about their on-going battle, that he'd wanted different things to her and had done his best to impose what he wanted, but then she was the one who'd changed, not him. He'd denied it of course when she'd screamed at him that last time she'd seen him, she'd accused him of wanting them to be like her mum and dad, her stuck in some part-time dead-end job with a load of kids and him in charge like her dad. The truth made her feel uncomfortable, as though she was betraying something, so she'd been busily airbrushing it ever since. The fact that she'd been _twitchy_ with irritation when she used to get home worn out and find him sitting on the sofa playing some stupid video game or other so that she'd have to do everything, meant she'd bloody known it was all going a bit shit for months, but no-one had known, only her, that she'd laughed at him when he'd told her he'd always be there for her. Or that eventually she'd ended up saying it to him just to stop him keep banging on about it even though she believed it was just one of those stupid things people say and that it didn't mean anything and had made her want to laugh. But then she'd let him down and refused to do what would have made him happy, and worst of all, she'd wanted out by the time he left, had been glad to see him go, something she shied away from thinking about now. It seemed important for some reason that she remembered their time together as happy.

"I didn't realize you hated him"

"I didn't hate him … just thought he was a fuck-wit and that he could be a bossy little bastard and I'm sorry, but that was what he was like"

Bella pulled as much of a contrite face as she could manage considering she wasn't a bit sorry, she actually wanted to slap her sister or hug her, she wasn't sure which.

"And we don't even know what really happened, do we? Ne'er mind what his bloody mother said, she was the one who didn't stop him, not you, it wasn't your fault he got shit-faced and took her car …. you weren't even there"

"Stop it …. It's difficult for her, she said ….."

"Don't give a flying fuck what she said ….. she told you he hadn't been drinking didn't she? Stupid cow" To Bella it was as plain as the nose on her face, and she had zero sympathy for the woman who'd phoned her sister over and over again, day and night in the weeks after the accident and had yelled and screamed at her, accused her, blamed her "This Charlie, what did he say when you told him?"

-OG-

They'd caught the last boat by the skin of their teeth and were leaning against the railings while she got her breath back when she had this sudden attack of the shivers, not because she was cold exactly but because there was an atmosphere had sprung up between them, everything had changed. He put his hand on the middle of her back and steered her towards one of the benches against the side of the cabin, by some unspoken mutual consent neither of them wanted to go inside where there were hordes of noisy people making the most of their trip up the river by drinking the bar dry and taking loads of pictures on their phones.

"His mum said he couldn't get off to sleep, what with jet lag 'n that, and him being all miserable from …. well, that's what she said, so he had a couple of drinks, but only a couple, although that wasn't what the Coroner said, he said he had a skin-full, was almost three times over the limit, but anyway Max borrowed her car and went for a bit of drive round, don't ask me why cos he'd never done any of that sort of shit when he lived here, and then ….. bosh … there was no-one else, just him"

Charles wasn't sure what to say, whatever he said was not going to sound particularly appropriate, either it was going to sound as if he was glad that only Max had died and no-one else, which he was, but he didn't want it to sound as if he was happy that Max was dead either, which he obviously wasn't. He needed to pick his words with a great deal of care.

"None of it was your fault Molly, it was an accident, a bit of stupidity" He turned and tucked a stray curl of hair back behind her ear before shaking his head at the sight of the worried expression on her little face "But you know that, you don't need me to tell you"

"Stop saying the same shit as the rest Charles, if it weren't my fault, then whose fault was it? I was with him for bloody years and he never, ever got in a car to drive when he'd been drinking, not once, so something was different wasn't it?" Her mouth kept going even though she sensed it would be a good time to stop, she'd already ruined everything "His mum said she knew he'd done it on purpose, that he was dead miserable 'n that I'd let him down ….. and she was right"

"His mum sounds like a peach …. and you know she was talking utter rubbish don't you?"

He was reluctant to say anything about it being the bloke's own fault, that he'd been an adult who'd made his own stupid decisions, but he didn't want any of the irritation that he felt at her insistence on shouldering the blame to show. He had a clear flashback of Cindy Smith confronting him outside a church in Newport, a folded flag in her hand and bitter anger in her voice as she blamed him for Smurf and Geraint and wondered how much of Molly's guilt had been exacerbated by this woman's grief and her need to lash out and find someone to blame.

"Mums do that don't they, when something goes wrong there's always got to be someone somewhere to blame"

"Not my mum"

"Definitely mine, you should hear her on the subject of Rebecca …. and the army when I got shot"

-OG-

"I didn't give him a lot of chance to say anything, I was bloody mad that he said the same shit as you lot, and at the way he kept looking at his watch so I thought I was boring him …. told him to stop trying to fix it … that he couldn't … no-one could"

Molly shut her eyes and remembered how hurt he'd looked before his face had closed up and the miserable old git mask had descended over his features.

"He asked me to ring him and I sort of said I would, well, sort of ….. but don't think so, I mean, there's no point, what can I say? Nothing's changed, I still gotta work weekends, can't afford not to, so still got no time for anything else"

"You could make time if you wanted" Bella shrugged, she couldn't see a problem and was beginning to get frustrated, as far as she could see it wasn't difficult "Tell Costco to stuff it, it's not like it's brilliant or nothing is it? Then get yourself another job, with no weekends … Mum won't mind if you're a bit behind on your rent, I do it all the time"

"Yeah I know you do, but you're not me are you?"

"You know you wanna phone him, I can see that, so why don't you just do it? Go on, then we can get off down the pub and get hammered, we're wasting good drinking time 'ere"

"What if he tells me to, you know, piss off or something? Wouldn't blame him"

"Nah, I wouldn't either" Bella giggled and then looked at the stricken expression that appeared on Molly's face and thought for a second "Jesus, don't take everything so serious, I'm just kidding …. he won't ….. and if he does ….. well, not bloody worth it then, is he? Go on, I'm fed up of seeing your miserable gob"

"Haven't got a miserable gob"

"You can't see what I'm looking at…."

"Go away then, sod off, I'm definitely not doing it while you're hanging about earwigging"

"I'm not, I'm not listening"

"Yeah you bloody are"

-OG-

There was a sick churning feeling in the pit of her stomach that was a cocktail mixture of longing and excitement and dread as she sat and turned her phone over and over in her hands and waited for her sister to stop staring her out and give up and shove off even though it was obvious she had no intention of doing it anytime soon. Molly also had no idea what on earth she was going to say to him when she finally got up the courage to stop putting it off, to stop scrolling backwards and forwards through the numbers on her phone and make the call.

"Hullo"

The sick feeling of excited anticipation was instantly replaced by the hollow dropping sensation of intense disappointment as a woman answered his phone. A young woman, with a posh sounding voice that Molly instantly decided belonged to Rebecca.

"Um .. hello ….. sorry, I think I might have the wrong number, I was looking for Charli …. Charles …. Charles James?"

"This is Charles' phone, I'm sorry but you've just missed him, he's popped out for a sec … can I take a message?"

"Nah s'alright … umm, hang on, yeah, can you just tell him Molly rang?"

"'Molly rang' nothing else?"

"Nah … that's it, thanks"

She wanted to ask the woman who the fuck she was and why she was answering his phone, and why hadn't he got it with him wherever it was he'd gone, she wanted to see whether her suspicions were correct, but felt it would be a bit of a bloody nerve in the circumstances.

"I'll tell him that you rang … would you like me to ask him to call you back? He shouldn't be long"

"Yeah … thanks, that'd be good if you don't mind"

"No problem"

Her bloody annoying sister had moved away when Molly had swatted her. She had been putting her ear against the other side of the phone as she tried to hear both sides of the conversation, but was now standing with her hands on her hips and both eyebrows arched.

"Not there?"

"You should bloody know, you were listening"

The let down made her want to kick things and scream about how unfair it was as unshed tears of rage and disappointment pricked at the back of her eyes and she had this urge to smack Bella for forcing her to make the call and then being so bloody irritating by trying to listen in. She settled instead for concentrating on looking for a plausible reason to get out of going to the pub, knowing before she even started that was likely to prove even more of a bleeding difficult ask than getting up the nerve to make the call. She just wanted to stay where she was, to sit on her bed and wait and see if he rang her back, but Bella was like a Rottweiler when she got the bit between her teeth and would think it was a mistake to just sit and wait for any bloke, so would drag her down the pub anyway if she made any noises about wanting to stop at home.

"Who was she?"

"Dunno .. some woman … you know as much as me"

"Oh"

"Yeah …. Oh"

"Fuck"

"Yeah, fuck"

-OG-

They'd barely got through the door of the pub when he rang. Just enough time had passed since she'd called him to convince her that he wasn't going to call back, that he'd decided she was too much like hard work and wasn't worth the effort, that the woman, more than likely Rebecca, hadn't passed on the message so he didn't even know she'd called, the list of reasons was getting longer by the minute as Bella pushed open the door and shoved her through it to be hit by the wall of noise. A raucous racket that instantly made her check to make sure she wasn't missing her phone ringing, which was absolute bollocks because she'd had it in her hand ever since they'd left home.

"Hello"

"Hello you"

"Thank you for ringing back"

"No, thank you for ringing me" She could hear the smile in his voice "I'm sorry that I wasn't here when you called"

"Where were you?" The instant the words left her mouth she wanted to pull them back, it was none of her fucking business where he'd been "Sorry, none of my business"

"I took the dog for a quick walk and forgot to take my phone"

"Didn't know you'd got a dog, you never said"

"I haven't ….. I borrowed it" She could hear the smile in his voice "Belongs to the next door neighbour"

"What?"

"It's my mother's dog, I'm surprised she didn't tell you that's where I was"

"That was your _mum_?"

"Of course it was, who did you think it was? Oh no, don't answer that" Once again she could hear the smile in his voice and had this vivid picture in her head of him shaking his head slowly from side to side in denial of her assumption about who had picked up the call "What am I going to do with you? ….. and what's that bloody awful noise in the background, where are you?"

"I'm in the pub 'n it's a bit crowded … you know, Saturday night 'n that"

"Who are you with? Should I be worried?"

"Nah … just my little sister" She had this rush of happiness at the meaning behind the words "'ave you missed me?"

"Nope, I've told you before, just because I've been thinking about you all week, wondering what you were doing and if you were okay didn't mean that I _missed_ you"

"I missed you"

"Good, glad to hear it …. so when am I going to see you so that I can show you how much I've missed you? I suppose you're going to work tomorrow?"

"I was thinking of getting me mum to ring in sick for me, was thinking about maybe playing truant, but only if I've got something better to do"

"It takes about an hour and a half on the train from Paddington"

"What about your little boy, what you gonna tell 'im about me?"

"That you're name is Molly and that you're my friend, that's as long as you don't expect me to start stripping your clothes off while we eat roast beef"

"You mean, you're not going to? Oh shit, not sure if it's worth it then"

"Ring me when you know what train, Oh and Molly?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really fond of you as well"

"But?"

"No buts"

-OG-

 _ **A/N: Thank you for sticking with me, and them, I hope you enjoy this.**_


	17. Chapter 17

"But who is she Charles?"

"A friend"

Charles was getting on her nerves. She'd already said she was sorry for not telling him about the call the minute he'd come through the door with the dog, and then it had slipped her mind when he'd been busy getting Sammie off to bed, but it wasn't deliberate and she had passed on the message the minute she'd remembered, so there'd been absolutely no justification for him to be annoyed with her the way he was and there had been even less reason for him to snatch up his phone like that and disappear with it into the garden, presumably to speak with this Molly without any eavesdroppers. As if she or Bill would listen in to his conversation ... not deliberately anyway, he should know that, and then he'd come back and leaned himself nonchalantly against the worktop with that enormously irritating smirk plastered all over his face telling her casually that he'd invited this _friend_ for lunch the following day, knowing that he was thoroughly annoying her by not volunteering any sort of _explanation._

"If it's a problem Mum, you only have to say and I'll take them out for lunch, her and Sammie"

"Did I say it was a problem?"

Margaret James put her hands on her hips straightening her back in a gesture very reminiscent of the one he was fond of using when his mouth was saying one thing and his head something else entirely.

"Nope ... sorry"

"Well then, what did you say something like that for? ... and it isn't as if you've ever mentioned her before"

"Haven't I? No maybe not, but I didn't know I had to"

"Of course you don't have to, stop it Charles, that is not what I'm saying and you know it ... stop trying to be clever with me ... and wipe that stupid grin off your face"

"Sorry"

He was biting his lip in a somewhat vain attempt to control his smirk, but it only worked for a couple of seconds before he began to laugh out loud and shake his head at her, he knew full well he was being infuriating to someone who was dying of curiosity, and that she was desperate to ask him for chapter and verse about Molly but couldn't without looking as though she couldn't mind her own business. She swatted at him as he stopped leaning against the cupboards and headed for the door, still laughing and throwing his head back as he twisted sideways to avoid the tea towel she was aiming in the direction of his backside.

Margaret shook her head slowly from side to side and watched as he bounded up the stairs taking them two at a time and singing as he went. He was her son and she couldn't help worrying about him, she'd been extremely worried when his marriage had fallen apart, and had been getting increasingly worried lately that he might be lonely, not that she could ask him, and even if she did he would tell her it was nothing to do with her or something on those lines. There were times, and this was one of them, when she wanted to shake him, he could be so bloody difficult.

"Did you hear all that?"

She looked round and scowled at William who was busy emptying the dishwasher and looking confused as he tried to decide where to put the stuff away.

"Yes I heard ... now where does this blessed thing go?" He held up the jug from the blender "You know it's none of our business don't you Mags? Leave him alone, he knows what he's doing" William plonked the blender jug down on the kitchen table "I'll leave this here then shall I? And I can't see what the problem is, you've been trying to get him to ... doing your best to ..." He paused and looked for the right words "I know you mean well Maggie, but you have to let him sort these things out for himself" William stopped short of actually telling her to mind her own business and shrugged, before turning back to empty the cutlery tray.

"Bill, for heaven sake, you know exactly where that goes, or you should do by now"

Margaret snatched the jug from the table and rammed it irritably in the cupboard, she was glad of an excuse to keep her back firmly turned towards her husband, she had no intention of showing him how extremely disgruntled she was, both by Charles and then by him virtually telling her to mind her own business. She also knew perfectly well that she was being illogical and unreasonable but couldn't help being incredibly annoyed that Charles had been so absolutely adamant about not getting involved with anyone new after the whole debacle with bloody Rebecca, that he'd got his fingers burned once and wasn't going back for a replay. And he'd made it abundantly clear that it wouldn't matter how many suitable girls she invited to the house for a .. party or to make up the numbers at a dinner party or ... well, to parade in front of him as he'd put it, none of them interested him in the slightest. And now he'd invited some girl she didn't know, someone she'd never even heard him mention before, to spend the day with them and Sammie. Of course she knew Bill was right, and that it was none of her business, but still ...

-OG-

Bella giggled as she offered to ring Costco and tell lies, said she would tell them Molly was too sick to even think of going to work after her sister had collared her in the pub and explained that she was going to push off home and leave Bella to it because of catching Belinda before bed to ask her to do it. Molly was on a complete high that had absolutely nothing to do with alcohol as she giggled with her sister and thanked her for her very kind offer, and pointed out that she'd have to get up bloody early if she was going to do it, like 7.00 or something and that was unheard of for Bella on a Sunday, and anyway Molly would quite like to hang onto her job, at least for a little while till she found something else. Bella had pulled a face and pretended total disgust at the ingratitude and then peered at her sister through eyes that were almost focussing and shook her head in disbelief, something that was obviously a bit of an error of judgement on her part as she swayed violently and clutched hastily at Molly's arm.

"Where you going anyway?"

"Bath ... told you ... and you need to slow down a bit, mate"

"Me? Why? Oh ... yeah ... you gonna see Charlie boy?"

"Yeah"

"That'll be nice"

"Hope so"

"'ere, Molls, he got any mates?"

"Plenty I'd think ... why? ... what, for you? " She pretended to think at the same time as a giggle bubbled up again, she was still on a massive high of 'Charlesanticipation'

"There's one he calls "Billy Big Bollocks" She sniggered at the way her sister's eyes widened and her eyebrows shot up as she licked her lips "Dunno whether that's a description, mind ... he's a bit of a fucknuckle, so might be that it's cos he's such a cocky little sod, name's Elvis, so that'll tell you"

It had been on the tip of her tongue to say 'ask Phoebe, she'll know' but discretion kicked in at the last minute and shut her gob for her. Bella usually meant well, well she did when she was sober anyhow, but if she wasn't she'd have had no hesitation in asking Phoebe about him in front of the entire pub the next time she saw her, and the only way to keep something a secret was not tell anyone at all. And Phoebe was a mate, had been one for a very long time and she didn't deserve to get dropped in it, even if she did have crappy taste in men.

Belinda was surprisingly reluctant to help her pull a sickie which annoyed Molly, it was the first time she'd ever asked her to do anything like that, and for her mum to keep saying "But it's not like you Molls" made it sound like she wasn't going to do it. So in the end Molly slammed out of the room and yelled "Don't bleeding bother then, I'll do it meself, thanks for nothing Mum" knowing as she did it that a shit liar like her found the thought of pretending she had a cold or a sore throat or something made her all sweaty, but a few minutes later Belinda followed her into the kitchen where she was wiping down work surfaces with vicious swipes of a wet dish cloth and trying to decide whether it would be worth going back to the pub and taking Bella up on her offer, then deciding her sister would be rat-arsed by now and wouldn't remember anything about it, so it was probably best to leave it till morning.

"Sorry Molls, course I'll ring for you, it were just I was surprised that's all" Belinda had obviously had a change of heart so was thinking better of her high moral stance of a short while before "Just sayin' not like you, that's all ... so ... where is it you're going?"

"Thanks Mum, nowhere special, I mean, it's not a big deal or nothing, just that I fancied going to see this mate, that's all"

Belinda patted her on the arm and gave her a short conciliatory hug before saying she was off to bed and kissing her on the cheek, leaving Molly feeling certain that her mum didn't actually believe her a single word of her somewhat halting explanation, which was a bit of a bummer, seeing as how it was almost true, almost.

Once she got in bed she found it very difficult to get off to sleep and then couldn't seem to stay asleep, she'd been so bloody tired earlier when she'd got home from Costco, but now just kept dozing and waking up in a panic about what the time was, and then it seemed as if she'd only just dropped off properly when her sister started to stumble about in the dark falling over her own feet and cursing loudly when she stubbed her toe, just kept on 'shushing' herself loudly and making a huge racket telling herself to be quiet. Waking up with a start the way she had, Molly had this sudden jolt of reality, there was a major problem she'd completely overlooked in all the excitement and happy anticipation. How the fuckety fuck was she going to buy a train ticket to Bath? She had precisely £9.27 in her bank account so her bloody Debit card was fucking useless, and her credit card was over the limit after Brighton and the wedding so the machine would eat it if she tried to use that, and she'd got no idea how much the fare actually was, but somehow didn't think £9.27 and the £3.46 she had in her purse was going to cut it. And she had to get to Paddington before she even thought about buying a bloody ticket for Bath.

"Bels? You asleep?"

Molly tried very hard not to sound as if she was wheedling for a favour, not very successfully because that was exactly what she was going to do.

"Shut up, some of us are trying to be"

"You're very late"

"Had a bit of a lock-in"

"Right ... I see ... Bels?"

"What now?"

"Can I have a lend of thirty quid? I mean, if you've got it" Molly was pretty sure that she would have, Bella always seemed to have plenty of money "Pay you back ... promise"

"What? Nah ... hang on, what do you want it for?"

"Train ... don't think me card will be any good, well know it won't"

"Why?"

"Cos I've got no money, 'ave I? And I need to get to Bath, remember? I've gotta feeling it'll be bloody expensive ... 'n I don't wanna ask Mum, she was shitty earlier ... got no cash 'ave I?"

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? Why 'aven't I got any money ...or why was Mum shitty ... or why am I going to Bath? Which?"

Molly took a deep breath and tried not to let her irritation at the short attention span of the seriously pissed get to her.

"Nah, don't care 'bout any of that ... but ... why you going to Bath?"

"Gonna see Charlie, remember?"

"Oh yeah ... ask him for the money"

"I can't, don't want to ... look, don't matter, I won't go"

"Shoe box ... in that cupboard underneath ...but I want it back" Bella yawned loudly and pulled her pillow over her head "And don't bleeding wake me up again, 'n put it back after, don't want any other bugger to get their hands on it"

"Thanks Bel ... you're an absolute star"

"I know ...now shut up"

-OG-

The box that Bella had hidden away under a heap of old woollies and books and some old board games that had lost their bits and pieces had a great deal more than thirty pounds stashed in it which made Molly sit back on her heels and wonder where the fuck her little sister had got it from and hope that she wasn't involved in anything dodgy that would explain it. She was tempted to count how much was there, but then counted out exactly thirty pounds and left an I.O.U., and made a mental note to talk to Bella about it, only not at that precise moment. Bella seemed to have had a little fight with a bottle of Gin, and lost, so it probably wouldn't be worth even trying to get any sense out of her much before tea time.

The closer the train got to its destination the more anxious she was getting. All those excited butterflies that had been in her stomach when she'd got on at Paddington had morphed into hyperactive moths cavorting about and making her feel sick. She'd started playing the 'what if' game almost as soon as they'd left on what, according to British Rail, was a journey that was going to take 1 hour and 28 minutes and they'd been going now for well over an hour and she'd half convinced herself he wouldn't be there to meet her and that she'd be stranded because the ticket had cost 32.50 one way and she had 16p left in her purse, not even enough to get a cuppa let alone a train home. And what if his mum and dad hated her, she wasn't bothered about his little boy, she was used to kids what with all the little bleeders at home, but she'd never been with anyone long enough to meet their parents, apart from Max, and his was in Australia so she hadn't met her, and she had nothing to wear that was 'meeting the parents' sort of stuff, her best jeans and striped 'T' shirt which luckily neither Bella nor Jade had _borrowed,_ would have to do her. And she didn't even know whether she was really 'going out' with him as such, so on top of not knowing whether or not he was her boyfriend and wearing all the wrong stuff, she was going to have to ask him for a loan to get home which she really, really didn't want to do.

Sometimes it was total shit being poor so that you ended up owing money to everyone, and no matter how hard she tried to shut him out, it was times like these that she could still hear bloody Max telling her she needed him and that she would be fucked if she tried to manage without him.

The train was slowing down when the tinny announcing lady's voice started telling them they were at their destination, that this was Bath Spa and to make sure not to leave anything behind, as her stomach started churning when she stood up and stuffed the textbook she'd been trying to read into her Uni bag. She'd put a pair of clean knickers and a toothbrush in it at the last minute as she'd listened to her sister thumping the pillow over her head and muttering, either from her hang-over or because she was still pissed, but that felt like she'd been a bit previous, she'd got no idea how long he was expecting her to stay, they hadn't even mentioned it. And now she was standing waiting to get off a train on legs that didn't quite belong to her and was behind a whole load of people who were taking their sweet time she wanted to scream that they were all so fucking slow that she would have had enough time after all to do another check of how she looked, whether her make-up and hair were okay, although if she brushed it any more she was going to end up with enough grease on her head to fry a bloody egg. Going for another pee might have been a good idea as well.

She'd got no idea why she was so nervous, this was Charlie for fuck sake and she wanted to see him, she'd thought about nothing and no-one else for the past week, and she hadn't been nervous around him before, so why now?

The instant the train came to a complete stop and doors started opening to let people off she caught sight of him waiting for her on the other side of the barrier. She'd forgotten how bloody tall he was and how handy that was for picking him out in a bunch of people, and how drop dead bloody gorgeous he was with that dark curly hair of his all ruffled up where he'd been running his hands through it like he did when he was a bit worried, as he scanned the people on the platform, biting his lip as he looked for her. She was suddenly desperate to do that film thing and run down the platform with her arms stretched out to fling herself at him so that he'd sweep her off of her feet and swing her round, but didn't, she didn't want to make a total prannet of herself in front of all these people. She'd have to give the bloke on the barrier her ticket first anyhow and there was this bloody traffic jam of people all waiting in front of her, so the whole thing would lose something by the time she'd queued up.

As soon as he clapped eyes on her he put his hands up on his head and his whole face lit up with that beautiful smile of his, a grin that she could feel mirrored on her own as all the worries and niggles vanished, and she seemed to have some sort of tunnel vision so that his face was the only thing in focus and she couldn't see anything else as she forgot about all the people behind her waiting to hand over their tickets, people who started muttering and whinging as she held up the queue by standing still grinning at him and didn't even notice that the ticket collector had stuck his hand out and was waiting for her to pass over her ticket until he made her jump by saying loudly for her to hurry up ...

-OG-

"Hello ..."

"Hello"

"You look ... beautiful"

"Don't look too shabby yourself"

"Come on then, what are you waiting for, give me a kiss"

"Thought you said you hadn't missed me"

"I lied"

He swung her up off her feet so that her face was level with his, his eyes crinkling up at the corners with the smile on his face, the smile that hadn't wavered for a second since she'd pushed her way past some people who were hesitating by the barrier and reached him. He let her slide down him until her feet were on the floor and then cupped her face in his hands and gave this soft little laugh of happiness before he leaned forward and kissed her lips gently.

The gentle kissing didn't last for more than a couple of seconds as she threw her arms round his neck and he began to kiss her in earnest, holding her tightly against him, both of them completely oblivious to the hordes of passengers who were still coming off the platform and had to walk round to avoid them, until eventually the flood became a trickle.

"We'd better go ... come on, before I get arrested"

"What 'ave you told them about me?"

"Let me see now, that you're a gorgeous little sex-pot who's driving me insane and that you're doing a degree in doing a spray tan"

"Shit, you 'aven't?"

"Nope you're right, I haven't"

'Sometimes I hate you"

"No you don't" He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose "I told them that you're my friend"

-OG-

 _ **A/N: Thank you for sticking with me, and for all your kind words and reviews. This seemed like the ideal place to stop so that the next chapter will be exclusively a day to remember with his family in Bath and special thanks to Bea for her heads up about the train fare, her timely reminder, which to be honest I had overlooked, led to a whole additional part of this chapter which I enjoyed writing, so thanks Bea.**_


	18. Chapter 18

"Friend? What, not girlfriend or nothing then?"

Fuck. What the fuckety fuck had got into her? What on earth had made her say that? She'd been in Bath for all of ten minutes and already her gob had started saying stuff without waiting for her brain, of course he hadn't told his mum and dad she was his girlfriend, she could hear an echo of her own voice telling Belinda the exact same thing the night before. Oh god, this was going to be a long day.

"Nope, I told them you were my friend, and you are, aren't you? As well as a lot of other things that are none of their business"

Molly swallowed hard, not at all sure what to say next, she would have loved to ask him what was on the list of other things, it was just that she couldn't, not when there was all that shit they were both pretending hadn't happened, well she didn't know about him, but she'd definitely been doing a good job of pretending she was an ostrich, one that most likely had amnesia. But it wasn't going away just because neither of them said _anything._

"You know I'm really sorry, don't you?"

"Why? What have you done?"

"Well, …. nothin' new, but I'm dead sorry 'bout all that .. last week, you know, spoiling everything the way I did"

"You didn't … come on, stop worrying about it, it really doesn't matter, we're here now and that's all that's important"

He bent and kissed the top of her head where she'd leaned over and rested it against his chest. They'd stood in the street for a moment to talk and he'd draped one arm round her shoulders to give her a little hug, so that she felt … comforted, and was almost happy that they'd got past it, at least she hoped that they had, so put both her hands round his other arm and clutched at it, all ready to walk on up the street. She was heartily glad now that she'd decided on trainers and not her wedding heels. She had thought of wearing them for confidence because they made her feel lovely and _tall,_ but the bloody cobbles would have been crippling her by now, they were an absolute sodding nightmare to walk on.

"Come on then, what are we waiting for?"

"What?"

He jerked his head and indicated that they should turn and walk to the house in front of them, steering her in the direction of the front door so that there was this horrible sick feeling of dread in her stomach as her feet decided to refuse to move her from standing there gazing up at the outside of 26 Royal Crescent with her mouth wide open and her eyes out on stalks. Shit, it was just about the poshest house she'd ever clapped eyes on, exactly like the ones they were showing on the internet when she'd googled Bath.

"Shit, Charlie …. is this it? I mean, is this the house you was telling me about? The one you said was ….. _nice_ ….. fuuuuuck"

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothin' ….…."

What she meant, of course, was _everything_. She'd always known he was posh, she'd called him a posh twat before she'd even really known him, but he was a lovely posh twat and she'd had this idea in her head that she'd quite like him to be her posh twat, but there was no way on earth she was going to be able to ask him for a loan for the train fare now that she'd seen this house. It would make her look like some fucking gold digger.

"Come on, come and meet Sammie … and Mum and Dad of course, and before you ask, there's no-one else living here, definitely no servants ….. It's just a house, Molly, it belongs to my mum and dad …. it's the house I grew up in"

What he didn't tell her was that that was longer strictly true. His parents were in the middle of sorting out some transfer of the deeds, they'd decided to gift it to him, apparently some legal thing that was designed to avoid a massive Inheritance Tax bill or Death Duties or whatever name it went by these days. It was actually something they'd decided on a few years back now, but had had to put it on the back burner to avoid tricky complications during his divorce, not that his parents were about to move out to make way for him, they weren't, they'd stay where they were for however long they wanted and even when he did eventually take over, he couldn't sell it, could only pass it on to Sam, another thing he'd need to see about sooner rather than later. He'd had to face his own mortality when he'd been shot and the last thing he wanted was to leave Sam with a huge financial millstone round his neck, and there was no way he was going to do anything that would let Rebecca get her greedy little hands anywhere near it, so the solicitors would have to sort that one out, which meant they were the only ones who were going to get rich any time soon. But he wasn't about to tell Molly any of it. He knew she would freak, which in a way he could understand when he saw the house through the eyes of someone new.

"Come on, are we going to stand here all day looking at the house or shall we go in?"

"'ave I gotta choice?"

"Nope"

"Do I look alright?"

"You look beautiful, although I must admit I am a tad disappointed you're not wearing a thong and those heels, still …"

"Pervert …. there's no bleeding way I'm gonna wear a bit of dental floss up me bum all day to sit and 'ave me dinner with your mum …. not even for you"

Molly was giggling which meant she didn't have to arrange her face in her fake it mode. No-one had known because she'd never told anyone how much of a head-fuck she'd found it when she first got to Uni, she'd spent most of the time shitting herself at being surrounded by super confident people who were all a hell of a lot cleverer than her, so that even the thought of opening her gob had made her break out in a muck sweat. She'd been sure they'd think she was a complete muppet and would laugh at her. But she hadn't been there long when her tutor had taken her on one side and said she could see exactly how much of a fish out of water she felt and had taken the time to talk to her about how to, well, not change it exactly, but manage the way she felt until it didn't bother her and she'd been doing that ever since. Her tutor had said she needed to stand up straight and look people in the eye and show them her teeth in the biggest grin she could manage, and not start every sentence with the word _look,_ something she was still working on. She'd told her to tell herself that when other people looked at her they should see whatever it was she wanted them to see, that she should show them she was someone who'd got their bleeding act together and to _fake it till you feel it_ and it _w_ orked like a bloody charm for her most of the time so that it was second nature to her these days. She'd already done it on Charlie the first time they'd started chatting in that bar at the hotel when he'd been behaving like a miserable old git with a stick rammed up his bum and she'd refused to let him make her feel _inferior._

He took his hand and wrapped his fingers round hers and then stood back to allow her to go in through the door first, but her feet seemed to have got themselves stuck in treacle so he went first and pulled her after him into a hallway that was even more intimidating than the outside. It was long and shiny and had this massive staircase with loads of the sort of stairs that people fall down in films, and had a whole lot of framed photos and pictures hanging on the wall going up. It was all very well him telling her it was just a house, but she'd never been anywhere like it before in her life, for a start it was big, it looked almost as big as the hallway in the care home she'd worked at, but this hall smelled of polish and faintly of flowers, not old cabbage water and piss.

"Here Scamp, come and say hello to my friend Molly, Molly this is Sam"

"How do you do Sam, really nice to meet you"

She kept her tone of voice dead formal and stuck out her hand for him to shake as if Charlie had just introduced her to an adult, she knew just how much the little bleeders loved it when people treated them like they was grown up and she couldn't see any reason why Sam would be any different. He was a sturdy little boy with a shock of dark curls and his dad's big brown eyes, and he had Charlie's heartwarming smile but in his case with teeth missing as he bestowed it on her and put his own hand out to shake hers with serious intent. If she'd known him a bit better she'd have made a big play of counting her fingers after to see if they were all still there to make him laugh. He was a little bit on the grubby side, like he'd been rolling around on the ground, so had a bit of a mucky 'T' shirt and his little knees were all muddy and grass-stained with his socks falling off because his shoes were missing, but his other hand was holding onto the collar of what looked to her to be a huge bloody dog. It was sort of panting with its mouth wide open showing all of its teeth as well as having it's tongue hanging out the corner of its mouth with some drool dribbling out.

Molly had never had any close contact with a dog, big or small, there hadn't been the opportunity when she'd been a little girl and her mum would have a blue arsed fit if someone suggested they should get one. She'd say she had more than enough on with all the kids and the house and her job 'n that, not to mention Dave, and Molly couldn't see him walking the streets of east Ham behind some four-legged creature picking up its shit, nor her mum either for that matter. Actually she wasn't sure whether she was a bit afraid of dogs, and this one was quite big with a hell of a lot of teeth. She knew she liked cats, her Nan had one, so maybe she was more of a cat person.

"Your dad never told me you'd got a brother Sam, you gonna introduce me?"

"I haven't got a brother have I Daddy, Toffee isn't a _boy,_ he's a dog"

"You sure? Okay, well, if you say so"

She didn't need to say anything about being nervous, Charles seemed to know how she was feeling so took her hand and wrapped it in his again, stroking her knuckles with his thumb before telling her to straighten out her fingers and hold them still for the dog to sniff at. She wanted to say 'no bloody way', but stretched her hand out very tentatively towards Toffee to allow him to sniff her rigid fingers, but then stopped and hesitated, resisting the urge to snatch her hand away from his mouth, she really, really wasn't sure about it.

"'ere, he's not going to eat me is he?"

"No ….. you are funny Molly, Toffee doesn't eat people, he doesn't even bite, does he Daddy?" Sam was now giggling furiously at her as he looked up and said something about liking her because she was funny as Charles tightened his hands on her shoulders and whispered that he was about to award her a prize for bravery above and beyond and then laughed quietly as he dropped a little kiss on top of her head. Molly was tempted to step back to try and see if she could stamp on his foot.

"You're lucky you 'aven't got brothers Sam, I got three, and they fight the whole bl…. time, they pinch each other's stuff and they break things, so you're better off with a dog"

"He's not mine, he's Granny's dog, Mummy says I can't have one till I'm old enough to look after it by myself"

"Well, she's probably right, me Nan's got a cat, but it scratches and it bites and it tries to eat people, especially me youngest sister when she tries to pick it up and stroke it"

"Bloody hell, Molly, how many of you are there?"

"Daddy, you're not allowed to say that, it's not a good word"

"Yeah don't swear in front of Toffee" Molly turned her head to grin at him and then giggled before she turned back to high-five Sam "Hundreds" She giggled again "There's six of us, including me, there's three boys and two other girls, although one of them is nearly a grown up, well she's a bit younger than me but Bella is much more grown up, lets me borrow her stuff"

"Like her shoes?"

"Yeah ….. and her shiny pink case on wheels"

" _Her_ case ….. that's Bella's case? I thought it was yours"

"I know you did, that'll teach you to check your facts won't it?"

"It was still being used as a weapon"

"It was not, keep telling you, you've gotta look where you're going"

Charles kissed her on the top of her head again and then laughed and dug his fingers into her shoulders as Sam began to whine about wanting them to go out in the garden with him and Toffee to play some Harry Potter game that he'd invented.

"In a minute Sammie, Molly and I have to go and say hello to Granny and Grandpop, and then we'll come and play ….. that's as long as you stop making that silly noise"

-OG-

To Molly's eyes the kitchen was vast, it looked as if she could have fitted their entire maisonette in it, and the sun pouring through the windows made the very shiny floor look as if it was slippery as she stepped gingerly through the door as Charles held her in front of him with his hands still on her shoulders. She couldn't be sure whether he was doing it to give her confidence or to make bloody sure she didn't turn round and do a runner, he didn't know that she couldn't go anywhere because she'd got no money. His mother was doing something complicated with a whisk in a saucepan on top of one of them great big old fashioned looking cream Aga things with the little doors on the front and turned her head to look at them.

"Mum, this is Molly, Molly this is my mother, Margaret James"

"Hello Mrs James" Molly didn't know whether she should walk across and stick her hand out or not, Margaret was still busy whisking something in a pan on the cooker "It's lovely to meet you and thank you for inviting me to 'ave lunch, it's really kind"

She knew Charles was pleased she'd said it when she felt his fingers dig gently into her shoulders and gave her a little shake, even though she felt as if she'd just opened her gob and done what Nan would call a massive arse-creep.

"You're very welcome Molly, and it's lovely to meet you too" Margaret looked at her with a smile pasted across her lips and saw a tiny little thing wearing jeans with long brownish curls shining in the sunlight, and her son's hands firmly holding onto her shoulders. ' _Just a friend'_ her backside. "Sorry, I can't leave this it'll go all lumpy" She peered doubtfully into the pan "Or I should say even more lumpy, call me Maggie, dear, everyone does"

Molly gave her what felt like a simpering little grin and said nothing, there was no bleeding way she could possibly call this woman 'Maggie'. She was tall and very slim and looked a bit like Charles, she had his brown eyes but had fairish hair that looked like it had hundreds of pounds worth of highlights in it and was as smooth as if she'd just stepped out the hairdresser, and she had her lippie on even though she was cooking the dinner. Molly immediately felt like a bloody tiny scruffy little urchin. Shit, could this possibly get any worse?

"Where's Dad?"

"Out in the shed I believe, I think he's messing around with that god-awful rhubarb wine of his" She faked a shudder as she said it, which made Molly want to giggle "Whatever else you do, don't drink it, tell him you've decided to go tee-total or something"

"No good?"

"Lethal" Margaret looked over at both of them again "If you see him tell him I want his help in here"

"Can I do anything to help? I can't cook, but I can wash up or something"

"No thank you Molly, it's very kind of you to offer, it's all under control, I just need Bill to ….. sort out the dining room for me"

"I'll do it Mum"

"Didn't I hear you say you'd go and play with Sammie? Just go out and tell your father to come in"

She didn't really need him to sort out anything, but she wanted to ask Bill what he thought about this girl that Charles had described as 'a friend'. She could see what the attraction was, she was a pretty little thing with lovely expressive green eyes and a wide smile, but to Margaret's horror she was definitely far too young for him.

-OG-

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Don't be bloody annoying Bill, what do you think of her?"

"Seems nice ….. Charles obviously thinks so anyway"

They were standing side by side at the kitchen window watching as Charles chased Sam round the lawn holding Molly captive under his arm as she yelled and drummed her hands on him, begging him to put her down and then squealed loudly when the dog jumped up at her occasionally with his tail wagging furiously.

"Yes, I can see that, but how old do you think she is Bill?"

"I don't know, probably older than she looks, or at least I hope so, we don't want to have to read about him in the Sunday papers, do we?"

"BILL, that is not a bit funny" Margaret turned towards him, a look of complete horror on her face as she thought about it "You don't really think there's a chance of anything like that do you?"

"Of course not, and if you're really that worried, just ask her" Bill turned back to watch the game that was going on in the garden as Sammie started screaming with laughter "I have to say though I haven't seen Charles look as happy as this for years …. so be careful Mags"

-OG-

 _ **A/N: Welcome to my parallel universe, I know that some of you want me to hurry up and move them back into bed, but patience folks, and I really enjoy 'rounding' out their lives …. Thank you so much for your reviews and kind comments; they are what keep me going especially when I have a bad day x**_


	19. Chapter 19

Lunch had seemed to last a lifetime and they'd only just got onto the meat and veg. They'd had bits of fish, smoked salmon apparently, on brown bread and butter which Maggie had asked her if she liked and Molly had told her she loved it, although she couldn't remember ever having it before, but it had seemed like it was only polite and she did like fish, although to be fair usually the type you have fried with chips. And now she knew she bloody hated it. She'd had to keep telling herself she was a grown up, was at University 'n that, and that she knew how to eat with a bleeding knife and fork as well as which one to use for what and she knew not to put her elbows on the table or talk with her mouth full, but this probably ranked as her most _awkward_ meal ever. And she had to watch her language. She had this horrible feeling that his mum didn't like her that much, although 'call me Mags' had said nothing she could put her finger on and had smiled at her a hell of a lot showing all her teeth, and Charlie had told her not to be so daft, but she was sure she could sense something. She was seriously hoping she hadn't mortally offended his dad either, Bill, who looked just like an older version of Charlie so she was prepared to like him a lot, and anyway he was really nice, but she'd done what his mum had said and had refused the homemade wine. Now she was bleeding wishing that she'd accepted the odd pint or two, although getting plastered probably wouldn't have been the wisest move.

She was enjoying sitting next to Sam, he was easy and he'd sort of insisted so that Charlie had pretended to come over all jealous and had whispered to her asking if he should be worried, so that she'd been giggling as they sat down, and Sam and her had then embarked on a lovely long discussion about how come her Nan's cat was called Walter even though it was a girl. Obviously someone hadn't known how to spot the crucial bits to sex a kitten properly but she hadn't really wanted to get into an anatomical discussion with Sam, so she'd switched to telling him how her youngest brother Martin had got a teeny bit upset, or if you were telling the truth had a complete bloody melt-down, when they'd suggested changing her name to something girly, so Walter was what she'd stayed. Sam had wanted to know why she tried to eat Jade every time she picked her up, but that was a bit hard to explain when the reason was Walter just didn't like children, not the little bleeders anyway so she always tried to run hell for leather and hide herself under Nan's bed when she heard them, but sometimes she didn't seem to notice when it was just Jade, well, not until her sister insisted on picking her up. He'd wanted to know everything there was to know about the boys, names and ages and what they liked to do and what they watched on the tele and what they liked to eat, until his dad told him to shut up talking for a bit and eat his bloody dinner that was congealing on his plate and to let Molly eat hers, except of course he didn't say bloody. She was getting a bit concerned anyway that anyone listening would be forgiven for thinking she was describing an Enid Blyton version of the little sods, one her mum wouldn't recognise and which would have had Nan pissing herself laughing if she could hear. But Molly didn't know how to begin to describe them accurately without Charles or probably his mum banning Sam from ever meeting them.

"Molly, are you one of Daddy's soldiers?"

"What? Nah, umm, nah sorry Sam I'm not ….. sorry" She knew she looked as puzzled as she felt because she'd got no idea what had made him ask her something like that, except for maybe his dad was in the habit of bringing girls who were soldiers home with him for Sunday lunch "What made you think that?"

"You called him Sir earlier when he was saying something to you, I heard you, and that's what your soldiers call you, isn't it Daddy?"

Molly didn't wait for Charles' answer, anyway for some reason he seemed to be finding something extremely funny so was struggling not to piss himself laughing.

"Well, yeah I did, I know, I mean, I did call 'im Sir but it were just I was having a little joke with him, it weren't real Sam, I don't do all that saluting 'n sh … stuff … do you know what being sarcastic means?" She was tempted to do the mature thing of sticking her tongue out at Charles as he shook his head and laughed even more, but when Sam shook his head and looked at her expectantly, waiting for an explanation, she decided to let his father do it, she wasn't sure what the best words were to use "Ask Daddy, he'll tell you ….. nah, I'm a student Sammie, go to University"

Maggie felt a huge wave of relief although she struggled to hide it as she did a hasty re-calculation of Molly's probable age, if she was at University then with a bit of luck she was at least twenty, probably older, but was almost certainly not as young as she looked or as Margaret had feared.

"Molly's learning how to be a Doctor, Scamp"

"Well not yet I'm not, but yeah" Molly glared at him, he knew how much she hated people knowing that about her. It wasn't that she was ashamed of her ambition, it was that she was afraid of people looking at her with their eyebrows raised which was what she always assumed would happen, that they would be shocked she was even trying for something so far out of her league when they'd be more than happy to believe she was training to cut someone's hair or do a facial or fake tan or something or even do Botox "I've gotta long way to go yet, Sam, so it's probably gonna take me about another hundred years, but with a bit of luck by the time I'm as old as your Daddy"

Maggie did another hasty re-think and plunged back into panic mode as she came up with cradle snatcher and wished she could just do what Bill had suggested and ask the girl outright how old she was. But it was another thing that really wasn't any of her business and Bill was quite right, as he usually was, dammit, Charles did seem happier than he had done for weeks, months, and she didn't want to do anything to spoil that. They had unfortunately got used to him being _distant_ , as though he didn't want to get _involved_ in anything, except with Sammie of course, so it had crept up on them over the months since his divorce. Until today.

"Hey, I'll have you know I'm not that old, lady …. But they're lucky to have you, you're going to make an awesome Doctor … and it really isn't going to take that long"

"'ave you told them that?"

"Of course"

"Oh well, that's alright then innit?"

"Indeed, I've told you before ….. " He shook his head slowly from side to side and then looked at her with a smile, his eyes crinkling up at the corners as he leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head, and then smirked "You're going to be brilliant, because you are without a doubt the most stubborn person I've ever met in my life, so if you set your mind on something … it'll happen"

"How old are you, Molly?"

Maggie cringed and spun round to widen her eyes and glare furiously at Bill as he asked the one question she'd been dying to know the answer to for hours and had been studiously avoiding asking, mainly because she was afraid of what the answer might turn out to be. Suspecting was one thing, knowing was something else entirely …

"I'm 24 ….. started Uni a bit later than most, when I was at school I spent most of me time messing about, when I even bothered to show up at all, so I had to work twice as hard to get in when I decided it was what I wanted to do …."

"Good for you …. And are you enjoying it? Is it very hard work? Silly question, I'm sure it must be"

Maggie was ecstatic and was now having to do her absolute best not to show the huge flood of relief she was experiencing, nine years, not even that, more like eight, eight years wasn't a problem, okay it wasn't ideal, but it was okay, so what the hell had she been getting herself so worked up about? It seemed ridiculous now as she turned to look at Molly and smiled a genuine smile as she started on her rescue mission of making up for lost time in being _friendly as_ Molly wondered whether she'd been at the rhubarb wine after all when no-one was watching. She seemed to have had a complete attitude transplant so was suddenly all beaming smiles and interested questions as if she'd had a small glass of something or other. If she had, Molly envied her, she would have killed for a large glass of something alcoholic, or even a small one to help her get through the rest of dinner.

"Yeah … it is quite hard work, and I work in a grotty supermarket 'n all to pay for it and me keep, so it's a bit difficult to find time for much else"

Molly had seen the faces that Charles and his father had pulled at each other as Maggie had started gushing, she had no idea what it was all about but suspected that they were maybe used to her doing this sort of thing, she was definitely a little bit on the dramatic side. Molly lifted her eyes from her plate and peeped at Charles again, and found him gazing at her across the table in a way that made it hard for her to drag her eyes away from his. He had a serious expression on his face, not frowning or looking annoyed or anything, not even that stern up himself miserable git face he pulled sometimes, this was a seriously loving expression that filled her with a warm happy feeling before she turned back to smile at his mother.

"I hadn't bargained on it being quite so bl …. pricey, I knew about the tuition fees 'n that, course I did, but it don't stop there, there's all the books 'n the rest and fares and eating 'n that, so if I'd done me sums properly, I might 'ave had it away on me Bromleys"

"On your what?"

"Thought you spoke English? On me Bromleys ….. Bromley by Bows …. toes" Molly caved into temptation and stuck her tongue out at him as she giggled.

"I do speak English, not sure about you though, I might going to have to get myself an interpreter"

"It's just as well that we've got a while then before Sam is old enough for it to be a problem, and a very good job you're not at Oxford now Charles, I think you'd find fees of more than 9 thousand a year, even more now if you want to do medicine, so we'd better hope Scamp here doesn't want to be a Doctor like Molly"

Bill had adopted a really kind tone of voice as he shook his head in a warning at Charles, obviously not liking his comment about needing a translator, and worried about her being offended but Molly just shook her head at him and desperately tried to think of something else to talk about, this was truly a triumph on her part, not only scruffy and a bit common but now she sounded like fucking gold-digger of the year. And then suddenly Bill's words filtered through her embarrassment and into her consciousness.

"Oxford? Did your Dad just say you went to Oxford?" Molly raised her eyebrows at Charles who was still looking at her as though he could eat her, although he did have the grace to go a bit pink as he laughed "That's not what you told me, is it, you said you went to that Scottish one, the one with Wills and Kate … and that you was friends with them"

"Did I?" Charles put his head back and roared with laughter "Sorry, I'm surprised you believed me …. I might have been being a tad economical with the truth but if I remember at the time you were busy telling me I was an elitist ar ….. orifice, weren't you?"

"What's an orfis Daddy?"

"Yeah Daddy, what is that?"

"Eat your dinner, Sam"

Bill hadn't got the faintest idea what had just happened, or what all that Wills and Kate stuff was about, but he had the strongest feeling that he'd put both his feet firmly in his mouth when he saw the way Molly narrowed her eyes at Charles and the way he put his hands up in an apparent apology for telling her a lie or something which didn't sound like him at all, but he still seemed to be finding it extremely funny so was still laughing.

"Molly, are you going to try some of this? I'd really value your opinion"

"Bill, for heaven's sake stop it will you, stop insisting, she's already told you she doesn't want any …. so just leave it can't you?"

"Charles, come on, let me tempt you? Come on just a small glass …. A taste"

"No thanks Dad I'm driving later and I've had your wine before, it took me best part of a week to get over it last time"

"This isn't the same, this is rhubarb not the pea pod, I admit that was a bit on the strong side"

"Nope, sorry Dad, but I think I'll pass if you don't mind"

Sam wondered whether anyone would notice as he surreptitiously dropped his beef, which he hated, under the table for Toffee, and then began to wave his fork about as he ate a bit of roast potato like a lollipop until it flew off and landed in the middle of the table, something that made Molly feel right at home. She'd been relieved when Toffee had decided to transfer his attention to Sam, or rather to Sam's dinner, because he'd kept pressing his bloody nose against her leg and she'd been worried he was going to start sniffing at her crotch again, even though Charles had told her to just push him away, she was still bothered about the number of teeth he had.

"Samuel James I hope you're not feeding Toffee under there, because if you are, stop it right now, you know he's not allowed to beg at the table …. And use your knife and fork properly"

"Sorry Granny"

Sam put on his angel face to apologise, so that to Molly he looked exactly like Charles when he was being a bit smug about something, but Sam didn't now care about anyone stopping him feeding the dog, there was no meat left on his plate anyway, and although he would have tried to get Toffee to eat his broccoli, he knew it wouldn't work, he'd tried it before..

By the time Maggie was dishing out the pudding, Molly was very aware of the way Charles was looking at her. Every time she looked up from her bowl their eyes locked on one another in a way that meant she had to drag her gaze away from him to look at his mum or dad, or Sammie, or even the bloody dog that was still sitting under the table hoping for crumbs. She was absolutely certain one of them was bound to notice any minute. She'd been single for a long time and had got used to being happy on her own, and hadn't wanted to do all this risky stuff, but suddenly everything seemed to have changed, and she was happy.

"Okay?"

He didn't say it out loud but she could read his lips as he checked whether she was alright and then winked and smiled at her when she nodded. She heard him give a little laugh as he grinned, his whole face lighting up as if a switch had been turned on in him, so it got harder and harder for her to break the eye contact. Okay she was still bothered about what was going to happen when dinner was finished, and she still had no idea how she was going to tell him about needing money off him to get herself home, or where the fuckety fuck he was going to hide her when the lovely Rebecca collected Sammie. Except that maybe he was intending to get shot of her before then so she'd be well out of the way …

-OG-

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah …. you?"

"I'm fine ….. but I'm sorry, this wasn't the best idea I've ever had, was it? But I wanted to see you"

Shit, she didn't think it had been as bad as all that, okay his mum had been a bit weird to start with but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. She was so bloody tired after her long week and sleepless night she could hardly think straight so if she'd had any of Bill's rhubarb wine she could well have fallen asleep with her head in her dinner, and the strain of keeping a smile on her gob the whole way through had got to her a bit. But if he meant what she thought he meant and he'd decided they were a mistake she wouldn't say no to getting on a bloody train and waking up at Paddington ….

"Why wasn't it a good idea, I mean if you're regretting this, us, you need to say cos I'm a bit tired, didn't sleep very well last night"

"No, me neither …. And I'm not regretting anything, except my mother sometimes, but I'm sorry about … Oxford"

"Nah, don't worry 'bout that, I didn't believe you anyway" She had, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Good ….. I wasn't talking about that, Molly …" He put his arms round her and pulled her to stand in between his legs where he'd perched on the edge of the table and then lifted her hair from the nape of her neck to kiss a trail to her ear "I'm having a great deal of difficulty keeping my hands off you"

"Ditto …." She closed her eyes as he slid a warm hand up her back under her 'T' shirt. She could still feel the way his mouth felt on hers whenever he kissed her and the taste of him on her tongue and how the weight of his body felt on hers, but this was not very clever, someone could come in any second "Stop it, not 'ere"

"I'm only kissing you" He laughed "You okay?"

"Yeah … me bleeding face hurts from smiling"

"I'll kiss it better later"

"That a promise?"

"Oh you can rely on it"

He hadn't moved his gaze from her face as he started to speak again "I didn't realize how bloody unhappy I was, not until I met someone who made me absolutely determined not to waste any more of my life being …. on my own" For one horrible stomach churning moment she thought he was about to tell her about meeting someone else, not her "But now I know that all I want is to make you happy … that's it"

"Oh"

"Is that all you've got to say?"

"Don't know what to say" She touched his cheek with one finger "You are talking about me?"

"Of course I'm talking about you" He frowned and pulled his stern 'I'm very confused' puzzled face, and then grinned, his whole face lighting up as he laughed "Who else would I be talking about?"

"I dunno do I? Charlie, I've been thinking ….."

"Oh shit, that sounds dangerous"

"That's what they all say" She began to giggle happily and then shrugged "Now, you gonna listen to me or not?"

OG-

 _ **A/N: Thank you for all your lovely reviews, your comments mean the world to me. The next chapter will move things on a bit …**_


	20. Chapter 20

Rebecca.

The ex. Her worst bloody nightmare and exactly what she'd expected. She was inside the front door tapping her watch impatiently as she waited for Sam to get his stuff, all slim like a stick insect and bloody blonde with shiny hair and one of them _smiles_ on her gob as she chatted with Bill. And wouldn't you bloody know it, she was sodding tall. All she'd actually said to Charlie wasn't 'hello' or nothing or 'how are you' just 'Really Charles, you knew what time Iwas due to pick him up _"._ Charles had just shrugged as if he didn't give a shit, but if looks could bloody kill she'd have curled up and died on the spot as Maggie glared at her and slammed off into the kitchen the minute she'd opened her posh gob, and Molly wished more than anything she could go with her and make a cuppa or something, but that would definitely be a bit frying pan and fire. So she was left hovering uncertainly at the back of the hall looking up at all the stairs which made her feel giddy, or looking at the ex-Mrs James who hadn't done more than give her a disinterested glance before her expression said it all and she dismissed her as no-one important.

She was wearing same as Molly, but her jeans and shirt looked sort of designer ish, well definitely not a combination of Primark and a stall off Borough market like hers, and she had these shiny leather converse on, not scuffed knock offs so that she was full of the sort of confidence you get from knowing you look good, not all red-faced and sweaty with hair all over the bloody shop from charging round the garden playing some sort of Harry Potter game with Sammie and the dog. She'd been about to tell Charlie all about her master plan of changing her job to free up her weekends for him when Sam and the dog had come bursting in and Charlie had pulled away from her as though he'd been stung by a bleeding wasp, then a wildly excited Toffee had started breaking all Maggie's rules and jumping up at her trying to lick her face which made Charles tell him in that boss voice of his to get off her. Toffee had stopped and looked at him for a second and had then totally ignored him and gone back to trying to lick her again so that she couldn't help laughing. She'd spent a great deal of the game avoiding the dog's tongue which he seemed to want to wipe over her face every chance he got, and although she wasn't scared of him anymore, didn't think he was about to eat her or nothing, he still had a few too many teeth for her liking. But even so she wished now she'd thought to stay out there in the garden with him when Maggie had shoved him out the door and shut it on his whining.

The fact that she hadn't talked to Charlie about her plans seemed with hindsight to be a bit of a blessing, the arrival of the ex had made her look round at the sort of family he'd got and the place he was used to, where even the dining room was more like a bloody banqueting hall than anything else and tell herself she needed to stop keep getting carried away. She wasn't starring in some bleeding pretty woman fairy tale about a sexy older man and a poor little servant girl, not that she was a servant or anything, or a hooker come to that, nor to be fair was he the sort of bloke who did a bit of kerb crawling when he was randy, but he was still way, way out of her league.

Sammie was clinging to Charles' back like a little koala and had his face buried in his dad's neck as they came down the stairs and walked towards Rebecca, although he didn't seem to be crying or nothing, it still felt unbearably sad to Molly. Charles had that look on his face, the one that said back off and that he was fine and that nothing was hurting, but she didn't quite believe in it anymore, she'd been seeing glimpses of a different Charlie all day. He swung Sammie down and bent to let the little boy whisper something in his ear before they both turned and looked at her and Charlie used his head to gesture that she should come and join them before he called her, but she shook her head violently. Did he think she was that bloody stupid? The dog hadn't eaten her but Rebecca might. So he turned Sam round and swatted him on the bum, so that Sam ran to her and flung his little arms round her knees to say goodbye in his idea of a whisper that could most probably have been heard three streets away, and which earned her a _look_ from Rebecca's pale blue eyes.

"Charles, can I have a word with you...?" She nodded her head in Molly's direction "In private, if you don't mind"

"Nope ... afraid not ..."

He looked down at Sam and pointedly raised his eyebrows, obviously trying to say without words that he didn't want Sam to hear whatever it was, but to say Rebecca didn't look best pleased was an understatement as she glared at him and tossed her head before flouncing out to the street, turning her head to scowl in Molly's direction as she went. Charles picked Sam up and hugged him and then he too walked out of the door.

"You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" His face was back to stern Mr Miserable Git, but he shook his head and put a warm hand on the back of her neck steering her in the direction of the kitchen "I've got no fucking idea what makes my ex-wife think she can have a bloody piece of me whenever it suits her ..."

"Maybe ... Sammie?"

"Maybe"

The sceptical tone of his voice made it very plain to her that he didn't believe it for a single second.

"Was that ... umm ... was it about me?"

"Of course it was ... she'll be on the fucking phone later when Scamp's finished telling her what a lovely time he's had with you" He put his head back and snorted a short laugh "Come on, cup of tea and then we'll crack on"

-OG-

"Come on, gorgeous, wake up"

Something had begun tickling her nose in her sleep and annoying the fuck out of her as she put a hand up and slapped it away before realising what it was had disturbed her.

"Where are we?"

"Sorry ... home"

She was groggy with sleep as she stretched her neck and tried to ease the crick that came from nodding off at an awkward angle in the car. She'd got no idea how long she'd been asleep like that, just that she wasn't ready to wake up and leave behind the lovely dream she'd been having, she was dead cosy exactly where she was. When she finally managed to force her bleary eyes open enough to see where they were, she could see a row of nondescript two storey blocks of flats, all of them ugly as bloody sin with their narrow strips of scrubby grass out in front of them. Where the fuckety fuck were they for fuck sake? She frowned and looked at him, this couldn't be where he lived, it didn't look like him, well could be he thought it was where she lived. He was wrong.

"Nah ... never been 'ere before in me life"

She rubbed her knuckles in her eyes like a sleepy child and remembered too late about the mascara meaning any still on her lashes was likely to be attractively displayed in black streaks under her eyes as she looked over at his lovely smiley face and did her best to look suitably sorry for being such a shitty passenger. She'd had trouble keeping her eyes open as soon as they'd left Bath, even opening her window as far as it would go in the hope that fresh air would do the trick hadn't helped, the sun was warm and was pouring in and she was absolutely dog-bloody-tired, as well as having this huge sense of relief that she'd got as far as leaving without doing anything too awful. But the last thing she'd wanted was to waste precious time with him by nodding off. She'd been quietly watching him out the corner of her eye as he drove with his elbow resting out the window, all relaxed and happy looking with a big grin on his face when he'd turned his head slightly and winked at her and carried on singing along to some country shite on the radio. And that was the last thing she could remember.

"My home ... not yours, I couldn't ask you could I? You were too busy snoring"

"Sorry ... didn't mean to be a shit pass ... Oi, I don't snore ... oh fuck, was I?"

"Yup, 'fraid so, like a little dormouse" He was laughing aloud as he leaned over and undid her seat belt dropping a brief kiss on her horrified little face, then jerked his head "Come on ...I don't know about you, but I could do with a proper drink, a weekend with my mummy does that"

"Is this army, this place?"

"Nope ... I know it looks a bit crap, but if you think this is bad, wait till you see barracks"

"Nah, didn't think it looked bad or nothing, just wondered that's all"

She was lying, but it didn't seem very polite to tell him she agreed with him that is was a bit crappy, and anyway couldn't begin to think what he'd make of where she lived in east Ham if he thought this was crap, although compared to Royal Crescent he was dead right, it was bloody crappy but then most places would be.

"It looks okay, I mean I know it's a bit beneath someone who's used to a bloody stately home ... like some people I know"

"Molly?"

"What?"

"Shut the fuck up and get out the car"

"Yes Sir ..."

"And don't call me that ..."

-OG-

The concrete staircase was reminiscent of every council 1970s block of flats she'd ever set foot in, including the one where she'd grown up, but that was where the resemblance ended. For starters, she didn't think this one was council anymore, it didn't stink of all sorts of horrible things you didn't even want to think about too much, it was clean, looked as though someone kept it nice, either that or the people who lived there weren't pigs like she was used to. She could hear music playing softly somewhere behind one of the doors rather than people shouting and screaming their bloody differences at the tops of their voices by this time on a Sunday afternoon when the pubs had shut, and doors slamming as someone's kid screamed blue bloody murder behind one of them.

It was an upstairs flat with a small square hallway that had closed doors off it, one was a sitting room that had that dusty stale sort of feel that places get when they've been all closed up for a few days without any windows open when it's warm so that the first thing Charles did was pull a face and go and throw open the window as she stood just inside the door and looked round, unsure of what to do next.

"Tea ... or a very, very large glass of wine?"

"Wine please"

"Good choice ..."

The plan had been for him to take her to Aldershot station for her to get a train home. They'd had a very tricky conversation in hissed undertones while they'd been playing with Sam because Charles had kept insisting that if she was determined to get home that evening he was going to drive her, and although that would solve the immediate problem of not having any money, she still had this small difficulty of wanting to throw up at the thought of taking him to 'meet the family' without spending a lot of time preparing the ground first. Bella would help her, she knew that, but there was no guarantee Bella would even be there. The argument had come to an abrupt halt when she'd muttered angrily that it was bloody alright for him, but that she hadn't even got enough money to get herself home and would have to hitch if he kept on, and how she bloody hated it when she had no choice but do what someone else said, and that she'd had to borrow off of Bella to even get to Bath. He'd stopped dead, an appalled expression replacing the smug grin that had been plastered across his face.

"Shit, I should have thought ... and you should have said ... why the fuck didn't you tell me this last night? I'm so sorry, we'll go and get you some money" He leaned forward and in spite of an interested audience of one small boy, kissed her very firmly on the lips and then laughed "I don't want you to worry, I know all about being a student, I was one once"

"I wasn't worried, not really ..." Molly wondered if he could tell she was lying through her teeth, it had been on her mind all day as she'd tried hard to think of how to find the right words to ask him, ones that wouldn't make her feel very _small,_ she bloody hated being poor "Just kept thinking I might gonna have to stand on the motorway with me thumb out and hope the murderers and rapists were on a day off ... and you was never a poor bleeding student like me, your mum and dad was shelling out for you at Oxford, not the same at all ..."

"You'll hitch over my dead body, I'm not going to let you out of my sight" He laughed "I must remember to thank my dad for having such a big mouth ..."

The sitting room was smallish with some bits of the furniture that had obviously escaped from Royal Crescent, and was to her eyes, exceptionally clean and tidy for a batchelor pad, so that her first thought was that there had to be some woman came in to sort it, in her experience no bloke ever, ever left the place as clean and shiny as this one. There wasn't stuff lying around anywhere, no newspapers in a pile, no heap of mouldering socks, the books were all put away neatly in the bookcase, none shoved in any old how anywhere and there were no cups with biological experiments growing in the bottom or anything, just lots of pictures in frames sitting on the table in front of the window. She immediately wandered over to have a look, she loved looking at other people's photos, and there were lots of Sammie from when he was little and what was obviously a recent school one as well as some with Charles, one with Sammie sitting on his dad's shoulders both of them grinning at the camera so that she traced their faces with her finger, and one in a silver frame of Margaret and Bill looking all dressed to the nines with Charlie standing in between looking about a hundred years younger with his curls a lot longer and a huge happy grin on his face. He had a mortar board in his hand and was wearing a gown so it was obviously his graduation and it was that same smile she'd caught glimpses of during the day, and there was several of him with a load of other soldiers all stood in front of big military planes somewhere wearing combat stuff. She was still looking at one of them when he came back with two huge glasses of wine so that she shoved it down hastily. By the look of the glasses it was odds on he didn't have any intention of driving her to the station any time soon, one glass that size and he'd be well over the limit, either that or he'd forgotten all about it so that she said a silent prayer he had enough cash left to pay for her to get a taxi.

"Sorry .. being nosy ... 'ere, do you 'ave a cleaner come in?"

"No, I bloody don't"

He leaned over and picked up the photo she'd been looking at, then smiled and shook his head before putting it down again, picking up the photo of his graduation instead and looking at it as if he hadn't ever seen it before.

"What did you study when you was at Oxford?"

"I thought you knew that, advanced beer drinking and getting out of bed in time for Countdown ... oh and how to be an elitist arsehole"

"Orifice you mean .." She giggled and shrugged then shook her head, even though he was obviously joking, it was still a very far cry from her experience of University "Seriously, what was you s'posed to be learning about?"

"English Literature"

"What, poetry and long words and all that shit?"

"Yep, that as well"

"What do you do with a degree in English if you don't wanna write a book ... or be a bloody teacher or something?"

He wanted to tell her he hadn't really had a use for his degree, not the way she was talking about, but that he'd gone to Oxford purely to please Margaret and Bill because all he'd wanted to do was join the army, but that his favourite bit of Dylan Thomas had came in bloody handy for funerals. A glance across at the photograph she'd been looking at of him with 2 Section at Brize Norton when they were just about to embark on a tour of Afghanistan, his 4th, with Smurf standing there in the front row suddenly made none of it even remotely funny.

"Sorry ..." He swallowed hard and took a deep breath then tried to change the subject "What were you going to tell me earlier when Sammie interrupted?"

"Can't remember, can't have been that important, eh?"

There was no way she was telling him any of that now, especially with him standing there with his hands in his pockets rocking backwards and forwards on his heels and looking down at the floor not her, and although Molly didn't want it to be time for her to leave, they'd been in his flat for bloody ages and he hadn't touched her, not once. She'd thought he'd just been waiting till they was on their own somewhere private ... but then he moved to perch on the edge of the table, pushing the photos to one side to make room for his bum and wrapped his arms round her and pulled her so that her face was buried between his neck and shoulder. He didn't speak, just rested his stubble on her hair as she breathed in the smell of him, she needed to hug him more than anything else in the world. Even with him sitting down she wasn't anywhere near as tall as him but it didn't matter as she wound her arms round his neck and tugged at the curls on the back of his neck so that he moved his head to lean into her hand, then tightened his arms to pull her against him until she was lost in his embrace.

"I've been wanting to do this all day"

"What took you so bloody long then? Was beginning to think you was never gonna get round to it"

"What, you thought I was going to jump you as soon as I got you in here?"

"Nah ...course not ... well, okay yeah .. maybe ..."

"You could have jumped me"

"Nah couldn't ... I'm shy ..."

"You? Shy? ... are we talking about the same Molly I know?"

"I am bloody shy ..."

His phone started to ring for the second time in a few minutes, something that obviously pissed him right off as he tugged it out of his pocket and dumped it on the table, giving the screen a cursory glance before ignoring it and refusing to take the call.

"Aren't you gonna answer that? Might be it's important"

"Nope ... if it is she can leave a message"

"She?"

"Bloody Rebecca"

As far as Molly was concerned they could stay exactly how they were forever with him tightening his arms and pulling her into his body and pressing his lips to her temple, then kissing a slow trail down her face, only stopping for a second when she paddled her fingertips against his scalp.

"Don't go ... stay here with me"

"Can't ... got lectures I can't miss, Charlie, and I'm a bit sort of behind with stuff anyway"

"I promise I'll get you there on time ... we'll get up really early"

He didn't wait for her to say anything, just smoothed her hair from her face and looked down as she closed her eyes at his touch before dropping tiny gentle kisses on her eyelids. He could feel she was shaking when he did it, although he wasn't terribly sure he wasn't shaking a bit as well as he closed his eyes and moved to kiss her properly.

-OG-

 _ **A/N: Thanks for your patience and for your reviews and kind comments. This took a lot of re-writing as I tried to shorten it a bit, but then gave up because I wanted to leave this at the bedroom door ready for the next bit, but didn't want to cut other stuff, so there we are – hope it's okay and that you enjoy it. Sorry, my spell and grammar checker isn't working, so hopefully no glaring errors ...**_


	21. Chapter 21

"Open your eyes ... look at me"

He'd run his thumb over her bottom lip and then started to run his lips over hers, grazing against them softly and teasing her but not actually kissing her. His mouth tasted of the wine and a bit of that so-called _proper_ coffee of his, sexy as hell as his lips touched hers again and he slid the tip of his tongue over her lips waiting for her to open her mouth for him. Their breath mingled, his face so close to hers that his features were all blurred as she put her hands up and ran her fingers through his hair, and heard the little groan that escaped him into her open mouth. He slipped his warm hand under her 'T' shirt and moved it up the skin on her back so that she promptly forgot all about going home or getting up at stupid o'clock to get her home and then get himself back in time for work, common sense didn't get a bloody look-in. Leaving was now totally out the question.

"I've been wanting to kiss you again all day ..."

He stopped and slid one hand up to stroke the back of her neck, tangling both hands in her hair as he nipped at her bottom lip, and then leaned away slightly to look down.

"Me too ... I'll have you know I've had a hard job thinking about anything else"

"Good ... you might 'ave to do it again though, just to make sure"

"Indeed ..."

She could have stayed where she was leaning against him kissing him breathless forever but had to let go to get her breath back a bit because she seemed to have lost any ability she'd once had to breathe properly. Charles threw back his head and shouted with happy laughter and then stood up to lift her off her feet and hold her above his head so that her feet were swinging way off the ground and her hair falling like curtains down both sides of her face and this huge hungry ache for him took her over as she slid down his body until her feet were back on the floor. There was a prolonged silence as they just stood and looked at one another, before he began to rain little kisses on her face again, soft light kisses that she could barely feel down the side of her cheek and across her mouth and for Molly it was as though time was standing still. She was holding her breath in anticipation of, well something ... because there was nothing in the world for her at that moment except the feel of his mouth. Instinct made her wind her legs round his waist when he lifted her off her feet again and his kisses got a little bit harder and a bit deeper and rougher and greedier until she had to break away from him again just to take another breath.

Somehow she'd known the sheets would be white like the towels in his bathroom, and they were, they were so white they looked brand new and even the pillows and duvet cover were pure white and it wasn't like he'd been expecting her or anything, so he hadn't changed the bed specially, well not as far as she knew anyway, or perhaps he changed it every day, just in case. But he was the first person she'd ever come across in her whole life who had a white duvet cover for fuck sake, everyone else she knew would bitch and moan about having to wash the bloody thing when they dripped their tea on it first thing.

"Here, 'ow come my clothes are always on the floor when yours are still on you?"

"I like undressing you"

"Well ... ditto, I mean, I like undressing you 'n all, but you keep interrupting"

"Go on then ..."

He lay back and put his hands down by his sides on the bed with a huge smirk on his face and then muttered "I see" when her fingers went straight to the button at the top of his jeans. But he started groaning her name with frustrated anticipation as she fumbled helplessly trying to get the button through the buttonhole, even though he was doing his best to help by sucking in his stomach muscles. It wasn't long before he put his hand down and moved hers away and undid it for her and then watched as she chewed her bottom lip sucking it into her mouth with an expression of deep concentration on her face, her green eyes half-closed as they flickered up to his face to watch his expression when she drifted her fingertips lightly over his erection and very slowly and deliberately undid the rest of the buttons. It was a matter of seconds before he completely ran out of patience and reached over his head to get a handful of his 'T' shirt and pull it over his head in one quick move, throwing it on the floor before raising himself off the bed slightly so she could slide her greedy little hands down over his hips to push his jeans and pants off. As soon as he'd kicked his feet free he half-rolled on top of her and began to kiss her again, slowly and tenderly at first as though they had all night and then with increasing amounts of passion.

"Where did you get these muscles?"

Molly had run her hands over his biceps as he sat up to pull his socks off and then drummed her fingers lightly down his shoulders and ribs, and then carried on running her fingers down his back as though she was playing a piano.

"Exercise ... that's the bloody army for you"

"Right ... thought you was just ... dunno .. naturally like that, all sort of perfect"

Molly giggled and ran a hand back up his ribs and began to kiss him across his collar bones, nibbling at the skin and laughing at the rumble of laughter she could hear deep inside his chest before he rolled her over again and lay on top of her without moving to gaze into her eyes. She was desperately tempted to just grab hold of him and tell him to stop bloody teasing.

"I'm a very long way off perfect Molly ... not like you"

"I'm not ... me, I don't do perfect"

"Of course you do ... you're beautiful and ... perfect"

The need to touch one another and each to make the other happy was getting more and more demanding as he trapped her wrists in his hands and held them over her head as she writhed under his gaze until he bent his head to devour her with his mouth, and his tongue and his lips, releasing his grip on her wrists to stroke her with his long, strong fingers and turn her into this shaking, trembling mess. A storm of mutual need swept over them and left them writhing and twisting against each other until a white hot explosion of passion swept them away.

-OG-

"Thank you for today"

"What?"

For one horrible nightmarish moment she thought he was talking about what had just happened, what they'd shared, that he was thanking her for the sex, shit.

"No, I didn't mean that ..." He seemed to have developed an uncanny knack of reading her mind which was a bit worrying as he put his hand down and stroked along her cheekbone with his thumb, then gently tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear "I meant for the rest of today"

"What did I do?"

"I don't know, but thank you for being there and for being you"

Molly turned her head to kiss him with lips that she had to keep licking, they were a tiny bit sore and swollen. The only place she could reach to kiss him without shifting too much was under his chin, and she was far too happy and cosy and half-asleep on top of him to start moving about to kiss him on the lips.

"Don't think your mum liked me very much"

"She'll come round ... you'll see ... she doesn't know you, does she? Not yet and she can be a bit _protective_ at times ..."

He was doing his best to sound re-assuring as he took a deep breath and carried on stroking her hair, but Molly was only a tiny bit reassured. Okay, he hadn't tried to deny it which was just as well, it would have seriously pissed her off if he'd done what Max would have and pretended it was all in her head and that she was imagining stuff, but she wasn't too happy about what it would mean for them if his mum decided she still hated her when she got to know her better.

"It irritates the fuck out of me to be honest, and it doesn't matter what I say she seems to think I need her to protect me"

He snorted as though he considered it a joke even though he knew he was going to have to have a very difficult _chat_ with Maggie before very much longer. Both he and Bill were used to simply ignoring the way she behaved sometimes, but he wasn't going to let her indulgence in over-the-top dramatics cause trouble between him and Molly.

"Who from? ... Me?"

"Yup ... you and everyone else, she thinks she has to make sure no-one is going to hurt her little boy"

"Little boy?" Molly raised both eyebrows and giggled loudly "Nah, think you're all grown up ... someone should tell her"

"Lovely ... you can tell her any time you like"

"Nah, don't think so ... she'll think I'm only with you for your body"

"Aren't you?"

"Course, what else?" Molly giggled and kissed him again "'n I never said anything about sex, did I? Big 'ead"

"Yup ... that as well ..."

They'd spent the last hour in a way that he'd spent most of the last week telling himself was never going to happen. As the days had gone by, he'd got more and more convinced that the trip to Richmond had well and truly fucked any chance he had of a relationship with her, and even now he was finding it difficult to believe just how wrong he'd been. It was hard to accept they were almost strangers, that they'd only known one another less than a month, a little nugget he wasn't about to share with Maggie, because it felt as if he'd known Molly for several lifetimes as he stroked her hair and dropped a kiss on her forehead. For the first time in as long as he could remember he was completely happy, even happier than he'd been when all this had started between them in Brighton, because suddenly he was sure of a relationship that seemed to him to be the right thing for both of them. At least he desperately hoped she felt the way he did.

"Sam's cute"

Molly had rolled over to lay on her back, plumping up the pillow next to his before she'd put her head down and turned sideways to look at him, trying to gauge his expression.

"I think so"

"You know, if ever I do have kids, I'd like one just like 'im"

"I'm sure that can be arranged" Charles snorted a laugh as he looked at her, knowing he was deliberately misunderstanding what she'd just said and loving the confusion that appeared fleetingly on her face "I mean, it was bound to happen one day ... with all this ... genetic superiority"

"Stop it and shut up laughing at me ... it's not bloody funny ... and I never said ... I never meant any of that shit .. don't even know why I said it now, Bella told me I was barking when I told her ...and I just said _IF_ I change me mind, didn't I? Didn't say I had"

"I know ... but you are so sweet"

"What you talking about, I don't do _sweet_ "

"Of course you do ... you're beautiful and you're sweet and you're perfect ... and you're violent ... stop bloody hitting me" He raised his eyebrows "When am I going to see you next? Friday? Or I can pick you up after work on Saturday if that's better, and we can find a nice pub somewhere, have a meal or go to a club or ... you choose"

"I don't know any nice clubs, the ones I know are either shit or they're shut ... but we could think of something else to do couldn't we?"

"Sex on the brain ... what did I tell you?"

"Charles?"

"Molly? ... what happened to _Charlie_?"

"Thought you hated it"

"I'm getting used to it"

What he meant was that he loved it when she called him her version of his name, which was strange in itself because he loathed it when anyone else did it, even Maggie or Elvis.

"I been thinking ..."

"What again?"

"Shut up ... I wasn't sure I wanted to say earlier ... well, you know, but I been thinking I could maybe get another job, I'm gonna get the push anyhow seeing this is three weekends in a row I've skived off ... so I was thinking of going back to working in a care home like I did before, I quite liked it there 'n I got through a hell of a lot of stuff when it was quiet at night ..." She paused wondering how to phrase the rest of what she wanted to say "I mean if I don't 'ave to work weekends it would make it easier if you wanted to see me sometimes ... "

"What do you mean _'If_ _I wanted to see you_?'" Charles couldn't help a tone of frustrated irritation creeping into his voice as he shook his head, he was a bit exasperated "Did you listen to a single thing I said? Of course I want to see you ..."

Molly widened her eyes as far as she could and glared at him. She'd been trying not sound as if she was begging or needy or something or that she thought she had the right to expect anything for fuck sake and here he was back to sounding like a miserable old git so that she wanted to tell him not to fucking bother if that was how he felt.

"Try 'n sound like it then ..."

"I'm sorry ..." He took a deep breath and grimaced "Of course I want to see you, why wouldn't I?"

"Dunno ..." She wasn't about to let him placate her that easily "We hardly know each other Charlie, so I can't ... take anything for granted can I?"

"I'm sorry, we probably should have spent more time getting to know one another before I let you seduce me, and then you'd trust me a bit more"

" _Me_ seduce _you_? Dream on ... think you might gonna find it was the other way round"

"Was it? What ... when I did this?"

"Could 'ave been ... nah, don't stop, you need to work a bit harder than that"

"This then ... is it working?"

"Yeah ... and of course I trust you ... especially when you're doing that"

-OG-

"You know you getting another job is the best plan I've heard for a very long time don't you?"

He smirked and kissed the top of her head as she snuggled against him and put up her hand to wipe a tickle off her nose, she had been about to rub it on his chest but then thought he might think she was wiping her snotty nose on him.

"But working nights and being at Uni all day sounds like bloody hard work to me" He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear "Are you sure it's what you want?"

"Told you, I liked it"

"What made you stop before then?"

"Max ... he didn't like me not being home in the evenings and made such a bleeding fuss ... so soon as the exams were finished I packed it in didn't I ... made things easier"

That prick Max again. Charles put a hand on the back of his neck and closed his eyes as he tried to rearrange his features into a pleasant smile. The quiet reflective tone in her voice made it sound as if none of it mattered anymore, something that should have made him feel _infinitely_ better especially as he could hear a giggle lurking in her voice, but he was struggling with totally illogical feelings of resentment towards someone who wasn't even alive anymore, poor sod.

-OG-

She should have been able to drop off easily. It had been a very long and stressful day, and despite having a bit of a kip in the car she was absolutely bloody knackered but couldn't seem to switch her head off. They'd had a magic couple of hours so that the muscles in her thighs were aching like buggery, and her tits were a bit swollen, even a tiny bit sore, but even having sex twice, well three times actually, because she could still taste his slight saltiness in her mouth, and could still picture the expression on his face when she'd taken him in her mouth, a memory that she was hugging to herself as she lay next to him and watched him sleep, she still seem to be wide awake. So she looked at his face instead as he slept peacefully, at the little tiny lines that fanned out from the corners of his eyes and at the dark eyelashes that were sweeping in arcs on his cheeks and that she wanted to kiss ... and that he had very sexy earlobes which she hadn't told him, but then who the fuckety fuck tells someone they've got sexy earlobes?

All the reasons she'd had in her head for why this shouldn't happen were still there, none of it had changed or gone away. It still didn't make sense for someone like him to be with someone like her. She was still going to go to Uni, and was still going to have to work, and was still no bloody good at relationships, she'd already proved that once, but she had this little feeling of 'happy' somewhere inside ...

She'd thought she'd be jealous of Rebecca, well she supposed she was a little bit. But not the way she'd thought she'd be, not of her and him being together or that he'd said he loved her once, but of her posh voice and clothes and her hair and the way she was all _together_ and not a tatty bird like her, and if she was honest she was jealous of how tall Rebecca was, but the feeling she had most of all wasn't jealousy, it was the desire to throat punch her. What the fuck did she think she was doing hurting him like that? Charles hadn't said much about her, she'd told him far more about Max than he'd said about his life with Rebecca, but Molly didn't need to know much more to find it very easy to bloody hate her. He was kind and he was lovely and he didn't deserve all that shit that she'd thrown at him ...

-OG-

There was a sound of angry raindrops rattling on the window like pebbles as she did her level best to keep her eyes shut and pulled the pillow over her head trying to stay asleep. Shit, it wasn't even fully light so it couldn't possibly be time to get up even if he was moving about and had bought her a cup of tea, had put it on the bedside table and said something about being sorry there was no milk, that it had gone off over the weekend or something.

"What's the time?"

"Sorry, it's very early ... do you want to stay there and I'll take you home later when I get back?"

"No, better not" Molly stretched and tried hard to prise her hot tired and swollen eyes open wide enough to look at him, she felt as if she'd only just dropped off and realised he was dressed in combat gear "Shit you really are a soldier aren't you?"

"Did you think I was lying?"

"Nah ... but you look a bit different in all that ..." She waved a hand vaguely in his direction "I'll get up in a minute"

"Come on then ... here" He threw her his pale grey hoodie "It's chilly this morning ...and it's raining out there"

She slipped it on. It was bloody huge so came half way down her thighs which made him laugh but it was all soft like butter and was just about the cosiest thing she'd ever put on as she zipped it up to her throat. It smelled of him so she buried her face in it while she sat in the car and concentrated on not being a shit passenger and falling asleep again, and thought she was probably never going to take it off again ... ever.

"Go on, piss off, I'm late, I need to get moving" He'd hopped out of the car to open her door for her as she hoped against hope the Dawes clan were all still in their pits, which they probably were given the time "I'll call you tonight"

"Be careful, don't get hurt"

He was about to get back in the car when he looked up at her standing on the pavement wearing his over-sized hoodie.

"Of course not, it's not dangerous in Aldershot ... Molly?"

"Yeah?"

"Love you"

-OG-

 _ **A/N: Thank you for your lovely feedback on Chapter 20 and I hope you enjoy this. My attack of the wobblies seems to have calmed down a bit now, so hopefully Chapter 22 before the end of the week is the aim, RL permitting of course, she says crossing her fingers and touching wood.**_


	22. Chapter 22

_**A/N: I'm back and sorry to all the people who've been kind enough to say they were waiting out. As some of you will know, I've been a bit poorly – but enough of that it's boring, just suffice to say I've been tested and scanned and interrogated so that they could tell me I had a virus – doctor speak for 'haven't got a clue, your guess is as good as mine'**_

 _ **I've been on holiday in the bloody rain, still it was French rain which everyone assured me was different (it's not) so I'm now fit as a flea again, hopefully. Have picked this up from where I left it when I was stricken with the lurgy, and I hope you enjoy the 'moving on'**_

-OG-

Part Two – Nothing Lasts Forever

"I see you cooked"

She hadn't heard him come in, but suddenly there he was, leaning against the doorway with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face, obviously dead pleased to see her.

"What?"

She did her best to force a grin of welcome as he nodded his head at the bowl of pretzels and at all the empty crisp packets that were scattered on the table in front of her. She scooped another handful and shoved them in her mouth before she took a swig from the bottle of Becks, then wiped the spit and bits of soggy pretzel off the top before she handed it to him to take a swallow.

"Yeah, sorry" She checked her watch "You're back early, did you finish shouting at people early today or something?"

Shit, she hadn't been expecting him home just yet, had been hoping her face would have more time to get back to normal before he got in so she wouldn't have to explain why her eyes were all red and swollen. She wasn't a bit sure he'd understand, she wasn't even sure that she did, but one thing she did know was that talking about it was liable to set her off again, and she'd done enough crying for one day for fuck sake, she'd been bloody crying on and off ever since she'd got there.

"Yup, very over-rated shouting at people …. tends to get a bit boring after a while" He peered at her "What's the matter, have you been crying?"

"Nah, it's nothing …. I'm fine"

"Don't lie to me" A couple of long strides brought him to where she was huddled in the corner of the sofa "Oh shit, Moll, what's wrong? What's upset you? or should I say _who_?"

"Nothing, no-one, I'm just being a bit of a prannet as me Nan would say"

"A what? What's that?"

"No idea, you can ask her when you see her"

"Do I look stupid? She'd just say it's another thing I don't know because I'm too posh …. Come on, stop changing the subject, what's up?"

"Dunno … just a bit sad I s'pose…. I'm not gonna see any of them ever again 'n I'm finding it a bit hard to get me head round it I guess"

Saying goodbye to the people on her course hadn't actually been hard at all, she hadn't made any real friends there because she'd had nothing in common with them, except for being on the same course. They were all a hell of a lot younger than her so a good night out to them was getting shit-faced in the Union where the booze was dirt cheap, and anyway she was never around on Friday nights or at weekends which didn't help.

But saying goodbye to the people at the care home had been different. She'd spent half the day eating cake like sawdust with strawberry jam that had never been anywhere near a real strawberry and drinking cup after cup of disgusting tea that was not only too strong but stewed to buggery when she'd gone in to say her goodbyes and to collect her bits and bobs. It was a job that she'd loved and hated at the same time, but it was a job that had meant she could just about afford to have weekends away at his after she'd given her mum housekeeping money and it had meant she could keep up with her Uni stuff, alright maybe keep up was a bit of an exaggeration, but not get too far behind. She'd actually ended up as a sort of genius at writing essays that weren't complete bloody shite at the same time as going backwards and forwards to answer the endless call bells, usually so she could go in and tell someone it wasn't morning yet and that breakfast wasn't late and to have one of their biscuits if they were hungry. But it didn't matter what anyone said about how the place smelled rank, a mix of strong disinfectant and wee, and how most of the people wouldn't even remember who the fuck she was by tea-time, she didn't bloody care. She'd stopped noticing the smell and she'd know who they were and anyway not all of them would forget her. One of them had pretended she was happy for her and had made her do a 'cross your heart' pinkie promise that she would write and let them know how she was getting on in her new life, but there'd been a definite gleam of moisture in her eyes which had made Molly's own eyes prickle with the threat of tears … She was going to miss it …. She was going to miss them, well some of them more than others obviously, but she was going to miss sharing the giggles when Stanley insisted on stripping his trousers and pants off so he could show them his willy and how whoever was standing nearest to him had to yell at him that no-one wanted to see it and to put it away, and would then have to help him at least put his pants back on. She was going to miss fat Eddie insisting someone, anyone, didn't matter who, had to pick a card so he could do his card trick, and how he'd drop all the cards on the floor every bloody time so that someone had to crawl round and pick them up …

"We can go over and see them again, any time you like, it doesn't have to be forever"

"You're only sayin' that cos you know they'll all perv on you like last time …. the staff I mean not the old ladies, although I dunno, they probably will 'n all"

"Well, there is that of course ….."

"Shut up .. "

Charles picked her up before he sat on the sofa and settled her on his lap, then put his head back and roared with laughter as she grabbed her shorts when they fell down, the elastic in the waistband had long since given up the ghost.

"I thought this was going to be a happy day, with you being here when I got home" He was still smirking as he pushed her damp curls back from her face and started to nibble at her ear "Hadn't quite given up hope that this might be the day when I'd get home and find you wearing your thong and high heels and nothing else …. Except for that beautiful smile"

"What? You thought I was going to be waiting around in me knickers for you to get home so I could ravish you? Bloody good luck with that one ….." Molly giggled "You do know it's probably best if you give up on that don't you? It'd save you getting disappointed" She giggled again "Anyway haven't even got a thong"

"I'll buy you one"

"It'd be a waste of money mate"

"Really?"

"Yeah, really"

"Shit …" He pretended to huff and then struggled to his feet still holding onto her "Come on ….. god you're heavy …..I need a shower"

"I am not heavy … that's mean … and bloody rude 'n all … And you can let me go, I've already had a shower"

"Nope"

-OG-

"What?"

He opened one eye and squinted at her as she looked at him as he'd slept with his arm warm and heavy over her waist, well, she'd thought he was sleeping, but it seemed not.

"Nothing"

She'd actually been staring at him for ages, thinking how lovely he was when he was asleep, and how bloody lucky she was to have him, and how after two years of sleeping with him, he still had the power to make her go all soppy inside when he grinned at her, or when he said stuff. It was unfair how good-looking he was even when he was a bit grubby and sweaty looking and definitely needed a shower, as well as badly needing a shave. They hadn't quite made it as far as the bathroom, he'd carried her through to the bedroom moaning and groaning or pretending to, and had then just dropped her on the bed and started kissing her so that one thing had inevitably led to another. Past experience told her that there would now be this red rash on her cheeks and chin from his stubble and that it was going to take a bloody age to go away, even with a whole pot of moisturizer slapped on it.

"Come on, penny for them"

"Worth more than that, mate" Molly giggled "Wish you'd have a bleeding shave before you get into bed with me"

"Sorry, I didn't think when you started ravishing me …. So was that it? What you were thinking?" He stroked strands of her damp hair back from her face "It wasn't that, was it, come on, tell me, you know you want to"

"It weren't me ravished you I'll have you know, and I already said didn't I? Nothing, anyway wouldn't want you getting big-headed or nothing would we?"

Being in bed with him like this in the middle of the week wasn't part of their normal routine, that had been Uni in the week and then going to his at the weekends. They would sometimes go out with his mates, but they were all much older than her so she'd struggled to feel like a grown-up, even though he kept insisting it didn't matter to him what anyone else thought, he loved her just the way she was, but there was still a bit of her that was scared he'd wake up one day and see her as a kid and go off her, or that one of his mates, probably bloody Elvis, would say something and he'd wonder what the fuck he was doing with her …. It wasn't that she didn't believe him when he said that he loved her, she did, had done ever since that first time he'd said it and had then driven all the way over on a work night to take her out for pizza, had said the weekend was too long to wait. But she definitely believed him when she was with him, but soon as she was on her own, that was when the doubts started to creep in and start to eat away at her until her head was all over the bloody place. It wasn't anything he did, he never did anything to put her down or nothing, but soon as she was on her own and away from him she had this habit of going over everything he'd said, every snippet of conversation and trying to find some hidden meaning in them, something that would prove he was going off her.

She'd been good about going to lectures, well mostly, except when she couldn't get out of bed because she was too bloody tired from working three nights a week, although he didn't know that because she hadn't told him. When she'd started going to his for the weekend they'd only got out of bed to get something to eat or go to the loo, but now every third weekend they'd go off to Bath to spend time with Sammie. At first she'd been worried about always going with him and had kept suggesting he go on his own, but he wouldn't hear of it, just said they would miss her if she wasn't there, so she'd had to get used to a sort of armed truce with his mum. To say that Maggie tolerated her being part of his life would be to exaggerate the warmth of the woman's feelings towards her, but on the other hand Maggie hated Rebecca with a passion so that Molly had one redeeming feature as far as she was concerned, she got right up Rebecca's nose. Charles had made it totally plain to his ex-wife that he didn't give a tinker's toss what she liked or didn't like anymore, so Rebecca had eventually given up her mission to try and tell him how to run his life and to cause trouble between them. He'd made it dead plain he no longer cared if she behaved like she still had the power to get her own way, in fact he'd taken to laughing at her, although the change in her attitude might have had something to do with her making some other poor bugger miserable. Charles had had difficulty coming to terms with the idea at first, but it was the possibility of Sam getting a stepdad that had bothered him, nothing else, and he'd quickly realized he couldn't do anything about that, but it didn't exactly have Maggie jumping for joy.

Her lot weren't a lot better with Charles. He didn't seem to register on Dave's radar at all, her dad was just downright rude and treated him like he was invisible, probably because he didn't follow West Ham and didn't go down the pub to get plastered, so far as her dad was concerned, he didn't count. Belinda on the other hand was all too conscious of him so she got all flustered when he was around and kept dithering about picking things up and putting them down again, and then starting sentences before she ran out of words or forgot what she'd been going to say. It wasn't exactly restful, and it didn't seem to matter what Molly said to her about how he was just ordinary, not royalty or nothing, she was always a bit afraid Belinda was going to forget herself and curtsey when he spoke to her.

Nan of course was a whole different ball bag. She was absolutely bleeding determined not to be impressed with anything about him, so kept on saying that although she'd be the first to admit he had a pretty face, and she could see how he might well be the dogs bollocks to his mum and probably his gran as well, and how that was only right and proper, beauty was skin deep and talking in a posh voice didn't make him anything special. She kept saying how she couldn't understand what was wrong with Molly finding another good 'un like Max, that she was sure there were plenty out there if she looked, but what she really meant was that she was sure there were plenty like _them_.

-OG-

She had thought of getting a taxi from the station because of it being early afternoon so Charlie was still at work and couldn't do the usual of collecting her and she was hot and she was tired and her back teeth were awash with horrible tea and she still had a bit of a hangover from celebrating with Phoebe and Bells in the pub the night before. She wasn't quite sure now what it was they were supposed to be celebrating and she didn't think she'd been that pissed, but that didn't stop her head from banging. She needed a nice cuppa, a gallon or two of water, two Nurofen and a bit of a lie down and her bags were bleeding heavy so she was dead tempted. But old habits die very hard so got the bus instead and then regretted it when she'd had to trudge what felt like a mile, or ten, from the bus stop to the flats, sweating like a pig and getting more and more sorry for herself with every step. Everyone had seemed to think she should be well excited, but she'd been having difficulty getting her head round a lot of things in recent weeks, everything had changed. Uni, finished, two years working nights, finished, although she'd have to find a local job to help her pay for her keep while she stopped there with him. She already felt like she owed money to just about everyone in the entire world, but there was no way on earth she was going to take anything from Charles.

She'd got her degree, which had had her jumping up and down with excitement, mainly because she'd had this fucking nightmare the night before the results came out about how she'd fucked it up, so a hell of a lot of the excitement was sheer relief at not ending up looking like a complete Muppet, even if there was just a tiny little bit of her that was disappointed. She couldn't help it, she was afraid that a 2:1 wasn't going to be enough for her to go on and do what she wanted and she'd been secretly hoping for a first, not that she'd said anything like that to anyone, not even Charlie, but as it turned out she'd been dead right, far as Bath was concerned anyway, but then she'd sort of known that was what was going to happen. She'd only applied there in the first place to please him, and because he'd made her feel, well, as if she was invincible and could do anything she set her heart on, and he'd wanted her to be in Bath. But on the other hand she couldn't really think of anything she'd love less than spending her days off going girlie shopping or something with Maggie, Bill, well he was okay, but Maggie?

She'd also applied to Bristol because on their web-site they'd put that they welcomed people who wanted to do medicine as a second degree which not everyone did, and it didn't look like it was far from Bath, well, not according to Google. Charles had laughed and asked whether she'd passed geography, which she hadn't .. and now she'd been called for an interview which she thought was a bleeding waste of everyone's time, she certainly wasn't holding out a lot of hope especially not after the knock back from Bath.

-OG-

"Look, don't worry, I said, I'll get an early train"

Molly knew she was whining, begging even, but she really didn't want to stay overnight in Bath without him so that his dad could take her to Bristol in time for her interview next day.

"Don't be ridiculous, it's only just over the hour from Bath … and Dad said he'll be happy to take you, give the car a good long run" There was a tone of frustrated impatience beginning to creep into his voice, this was not the first time they'd had the conversation, they were now going round and round in circles "He'll go for coffee or something while he's waiting for you" He put his hand across and stroked her face without taking his eyes off the road "I'm sorry, sweetheart, you do know I would have taken the day off to take you if I could, don't you?"

"Yeah course …. Sorry, don't mind me, I'm just a bit you know …. NERVOUS"

Shitting herself would have been a far more accurate description of the sick churning sensation in the pit of her stomach at the bloody thought of making conversation with his mother over breakfast without him there to sort of deflect her attention, and then a long drive into Bristol with his dad, when she was going to talk about … well, what exactly? What the holy fuck was she going to talk about? And then, there was the interview itself, oh god, whatever made her think that this was a good idea, that she wanted to do any of it for fuck sake, maybe it wasn't too late to fake an illness …?


	23. Chapter 23

"Come on Molly, you must try and eat something, no-one is at their best on an empty stomach"

"Nah, I'm alright fanks, teabag does me"

She would have loved to ask Maggie if she could see her way clear to kindly fucking off and leaving her alone, but couldn't of course, no matter how pissed off she was at Charlie for leaving her there at the mercy of his bloody mother. If he hadn't abandoned her he'd have told his mum she didn't do breakfast if she was dreading something, except for maybe a bar of chocolate, preferably Galaxy, he understood her and knew that not even Belinda could have got her to eat anything. She hadn't used to be able to persuade her before school, well, before she used to pretend that was where she was going when she was actually off to the precinct to get shit-faced on cheap cider, but the principle was the same.

Her day hadn't started well; if she believed in signs and omens and Lady Luck and all that shit she'd have given up and gone back to bed. She'd spent most of the night tossing and turning on her own in his huge bed with a brain that was refusing to switch off from what was going to happen the next day. Her tutor had warned her that they would ask her to tell them about her, so that her answers kept running through her head in a continuous loop that was definitely stopping her from dropping off, and even though she'd practiced for hours with Charlie, now that she was on her own she kept forgetting bits so had to keep going back and starting over again. It was important that she dazzled them with her charm and magnetism as well as being word bloody perfect on her reasons for wanting to study there, and all without saying a single word about Bath telling her to sod off, which was the bit that kept popping up in her brain.

She must have eventually dropped off because she'd been having this lovely dream of being somewhere, she wasn't sure where exactly, but he was waiting for her with a huge grin on his face as she ran towards him and threw herself at him screaming in delight. If she'd known it was going to be that easy she would never have worried about any of it, because now Charles and her could go off to …. well, she didn't know that either but was trying to think where exactly, when a loud buzzing had her shoot bolt upright in bed with her heart hammering in her chest and waving her hand in the direction of the bedside table, unsure of where she was. It felt like well, she didn't know but .. then she slowly woke up that she was in Bath, definitely in Bath and she was on her own, in his room, in his bed and they hadn't just got married … she'd got no bloody idea where that had even come from. She was the one had said ages back that she didn't ever want to get married ..… not to anyone, not even him, but well, that had been then … and now, whether she liked it or not .. it was that time…. not for getting married or anything like that, but it was the bloody day she'd been dreading more than any other .. the one when they were all going to see just what a fraud she was.

-OG-

They got to Bristol far too early of course, because Bill, lovely Bill who was the absolute spit of Charlie, had lied to Maggie and said he was worried about traffic and parking and being late when he'd actually been rescuing her, but at least it gave them plenty of time to walk round and decide which was the right building. She pulled out the letter again and smoothed it out, checking for the umpteenth time that they were in the right place at the right time and on the right day, before she took a deep breath and began the long slow climb up the stone steps to the Faculty building. Somehow and in spite of the fact that her legs were shaking so badly they didn't belong to her she managed to walk up the three million steps and then stopped at the top before pushing open the swing doors, turning round to shrug her shoulders and wave at Bill. He was standing at the bottom watching her, an expression on his face that made him look even more like Charlie, if such a thing was even possible. Poor Bill. He'd been doing his level best to distract her, well, entertain her, by talking nineteen to the dozen all the way there, telling her stuff that didn't need any response from her, all about his Golf Club and then loads of stories about people she didn't know but might think was funny, most of which had sailed straight over her head.

She pushed open the swing doors and stepped into an entrance hall that was all white and glass and modern looking, which was frankly something of a disappointment. Where the fuck were all the old panels on the walls and the paintings of people with white hair and beards and those old stethoscope things hanging round their necks, where were the bloody high ceilings with the fancy lights and the shiny parquet floors she'd been expecting. This was nothing like that, this was more like Stratford, although to be fair her expectations had been mostly based on an old 'Doctor in the House' film she'd seen on tele one Sunday afternoon.

She hadn't known where she had to go, it didn't say in the letter and there were no notices on poles anywhere with 'Interviews This Way' and arrows pointing like they used in Stratford, so she hung about by the empty reception and wondered what the fuck to do next. Apart from finding Bill and getting the hell out of there.

She no longer knew what she was going to tell them about herself, in fact she had no fucking clue what she was even doing there. All she could think was that it was maybe five years since she'd woken up one day and realized she didn't want the life she saw spread out in front of her. She didn't want what everyone told her she did, she wanted to be SOMEONE, someone other people listened to and _respected,_ maybe even looked up to or something, so she'd begun to think that what she'd really like was to be a doctor and help people, well that, or a lawyer maybe, but that might be a bit too much sitting behind a desk for her. Everyone respected women doctors, even her Nan hadn't got a bad word to say about hers, had said she was a doctor so she was a good 'un who knew what was what even if she was just a slip of a girl ….

But right now all that touchy feely bollocks about helping the sick and being a sort of Mother Theresa figure, felt like just that … bollocks, she hadn't got a clue whether she had what it took to even be around sick people and not end up with feeling sick herself. But Max had been off that day doing something or other so she'd enlisted the help of Google and made a plan of what she had to do to get what she wanted and then in spite of everyone, especially Max, pissing themselves laughing at the idea of her doing anything like that, had stuck to it with a single-minded determination that even she didn't know she'd got. And she'd been slowly ticking stuff off the list ever since, until, well, until this, today, and here she was with her mind a complete blank wearing a skirt that she'd borrowed off Phoebe which didn't fit her properly, well, she'd actually borrowed a couple but neither of them fitted properly, one was too long and made her look frumpy, as if her legs were too short so that her little sister had pissed herself laughing and told her she looked like a nun, or a warder from Cell Block H, and this one, the one she was wearing which was too short so would show her knickers when she sat down. She wished now that she'd worn jeans, even though her tutor had said that jeans were a definite no.

So here she was, dressed all wrong with a sick sensation in her stomach and not a single fucking clue what she was even doing there.

"Miss Dawes?" There was a silence and then the voice was raised almost to shouty level "Is there a _MOLLY DAWES_ here?"

"Yeah … sorry … that's me, over 'ere"

Molly put up a hand and waved it in the air over her head, feeling a bit stupid and as if she was at the front of the stage at some rock festival with everyone looking at her. All the other people waiting looked over in her direction and then looked her up and down, probably also wondering what the fuck she was doing there.

"We'll call you when they're ready for you, but they're running a bit late so just take a seat over there"

It was only once the woman had disappeared off down the corridor again that Molly wished she'd asked her where the Ladies lav was, she was suddenly filled with an urgent pressing need for another nervous pee even though she'd been just before they'd walked round the outside. She did as she was told and then did what anyone in their right mind would do if they were trying not to think about needing a pee and got out her phone to check for messages. She'd already spoke to Charlie and wasn't expecting anything from anyone else, but even if she really was Billy No Mates, she could pretend someone had sent her one, and it would save her from having to look at the other poor sods sitting around waiting and trying not to look at her. But nothing. Zilch. Nothing. Not even from Charlie. Not that she could blame him, he had this busy day today practicing dodging bullets or whatever it was they were going to do … and she'd been bloody horrible to him when he'd phoned her first thing.

-OG-

"Mornin' Boss, how are you this beautiful morning?"

"Good morning ….. and it's raining ….. so …. what is it I need to know then Fingers? What have you done?"

"WHAT? _BOSS….._ I've got no idea what you're talking about … and I'm 'urt that you'd think something like that"

Charles didn't bother to answer, just raised one eyebrow in a silent comment at this blatant attempt to put him in a good mood in anticipation of whatever it was he wasn't going to be very happy about. But he was not in the mood to play games. He'd spoken to Molly really early, after he'd been awake for hours worrying about her he'd given in and made the call, a call that had left him deeply dissatisfied and not in the best frame of mind to tolerate any bullshit from anyone. He'd found himself talking to a shadow of the Molly he knew, a shadow who was pretending she was absolutely fine, but who'd made him feel like a cheerleader on speed when he'd tried to jolly her out of a string of miserable monosyllables. The trouble was he knew her far too well so had seen straight through the lies that she'd slept like a log and was totally fine, she hadn't and she wasn't, and he was worried, and deeply frustrated that he couldn't just reach out and give her a hug and try to make her feel better, make that beautiful confident _cheeky_ grin of hers reappear. Her tone of voice had told him that what she really wanted to do was slap him.

"You'll be okay, I know that you're going to be fine, that you've got nothing at all to worry about"

"Yeah right … Listen … do me a bleeding favour, mate, stop sayin' shit like that, you don't know that and …. it's getting on me tits"

"I do know …. alright, just think about it for a moment, you've got your degree, you've got the experience they're looking for in the 'caring' sector and you've got a pile of references to prove it and that they loved you, and you know what answers to give when they ask you why you want to do medicine and why you want to do it there …."

"Cos Bath didn't want me?"

"MOLLY for fuck sake" A tone of frustrated impatience had crept into his voice despite his best effort to hide it.

"I were joking … weren't really gonna say that"

"Wouldn't put it past you" He took a deep breath "Look, we practiced, didn't we? You know exactly what you want to say, so what the fuck is there for you to worry about? Nothing"

"Well thanks for that, that's what me Nan calls famous last words, innit, it's just asking for something to go tits up"

"Rubbish, I don't believe that, they'll look at you and read your references and be able to see just how brilliant you're going to be and how lucky they'll be to have you"

"Yeah right …. Don't even know what that means … I know you mean well, but I'm not brilliant ….. really I'm not, 'n it's alright for you"

She could hear herself sounding like one of the little bleeders, whining so that any minute she'd be saying it wasn't fair, but couldn't seem to put an end to a conversation which had left him deeply anxious.

It took no time at all for him to work out what the problem was with the lads, not that he had any patience with it. Monk's birthday the day before meant they'd enjoyed a very happy Tequilla fuelled celebration, something that was perhaps better described as a mega drinking contest, in a local pub which had now barred them all for life. The 10k run he'd scheduled to kick off the day of fitness training was perfect as far as Charles was concerned. Especially looking at the rag tag collection of pale green and heavy eyed zombies who were swaying slightly as they stood to attention in the rain and looked incredibly sorry for themselves at having to be out of their pits at such an ungodly hour of the morning. Fingers was the noticeable exception. He was self-righteously clear-eyed and chirpy, obviously feeling extremely smug and full of beans as he stood ramrod straight in the middle of the ranks of his pasty faced colleagues and beamed like a keen and eager soldier.

Charles now had absolute recall of that evening in the pub when Molly had been standing with Fingers as the pair of them had a very long and in-depth discussion about just how bloody vile Tequilla was, and how neither of them could even begin to understand how other people could bring themselves to drink it. How on earth they could even pretend to enjoy swallowing something that burned on its way down and tasted like you'd use it to unblock a bloody drain, not to mention how disgusting it was to lick salt and suck a lemon … or even a lime.

He'd stood on the periphery of the group that night and listened and laughed and watched with a huge amount of affection and pride as she'd laughed and teased and given as good as she'd got. She'd looked incredibly pretty wearing the same simple black top that she'd had on the first time he'd ever seen her, the one he was pretty sure she'd said belonged to her sister. He wasn't sure whether she'd actually stolen it from Bella, or had bought her own, but he suspected the former. It really suited her, clinging to her curves the way it did … with her shiny curls hanging loose on her shoulders, and the way she smiled at him…..

She'd very quickly got the measure of Fingers. He'd done his not inconsiderable best to winkle chapter and verse out of her about their relationship, nosy bastard had been trying to find out how long they'd been together and how they'd met, but Molly had just grinned as she shook her head at his incorrigible prying and had then laughed as she told him to get his sticky beak out and to mind his own… Charles had smirked at the disgruntled expression that had appeared on Fingers' face and had put his arm round her to hug her against him to the noisy accompaniment of whoops and roars of delight from an audience who obviously approved of him moving on from his divorce and … Rebecca. Not that it was any of their business, of course, but still ….

-OG-

It seemed more like a week than the few minutes the woman had promised before they were ready for her, but at least the urge for another pee had disappeared before Molly was finally called in front of the panel. She was now sitting on one side of a table in a nasty little room that was badly in need of a fresh coat of paint with three founder members of the gestapo sitting on the other side looking at her. She wanted to go home very, very badly. The little chats they'd had in tutorials about panel interviews hadn't prepared her for this; three miserable disapproving faces staring at her and writing stuff down about her on the pads in front of them before she'd even said anything.

"First impressions count, so make sure yours is a good one"

She could hear her tutor's bloody voice in her head now, as she tried to pin a pleasantly interested smile to her face, but he hadn't mentioned what to do when you tell them your name and they look at each other and seem to make up their minds about you as soon as you open your mouth to say something. Apparently all the hard work and sacrifices count for nothing if your accent puts you straight in the 'common as muck' box. Her tutor had said how important it was to look at all the panel when she answered questions and not just the nicest one, and that there was often a bad cop, good cop thing going on, but all three of hers seemed convinced they were the bad cop, and anyway no-one had asked her anything yet, except for her name of course. So she just sat there and tried not to fidget or keep on pulling her skirt down over her thighs as the one who was more of a twat than the others looked through her paperwork. It was obvious he was looking at her crap school reports and records and how she'd had to do an access course to even get started by the way he kept on looking up and raising one eyebrow at her, which made her want to go round to his side of the table and punch him.

The stuff she'd rehearsed started to come back as the nice…ish one on the end started asking her about why she'd decided to do an access course and had even given Mr Twat a filthy look when he'd kept on going on about her working at night at the same time as going to lectures during the days, saying he couldn't see how she could do both, and had she slept when she was supposed to be on duty, or perhaps during lectures. Molly heard herself talking far too much and getting all defensive, even if she was a bit encouraged by the way Mr Nice kept nodding his head as if he was agreeing with her, although probably not.

And then it seemed it was over and they were thanking her for her time, even the one sitting in the middle who hadn't opened his trap, but had made loads of notes and Mr Twat told her how they would let her know in a couple of days, that they would write. She wanted to tell them not to bother themselves, that she already knew, but then also wanted to turn round and beg them to just give her a go, give her a chance and they wouldn't be sorry, she'd make sure of that, but didn't, it wouldn't have made a scrap of difference.

She'd fucked it up, let herself down, had let everyone down, although she had no idea why she'd even thought she could do it in the first place. Now everyone was going to keep telling her to _never mind,_ and that she'd _done her best_ …. She could hear Max in her head saying that he told her so, and her dad 'n all, and wished more than anything she could start over again. She wasn't exactly sure what she'd do different, probably just about everything, well, except for Charlie and worst of all, he was going to be so disappointed.

-OG-

 _ **A/N: I thought very long and hard about posting any more of this, but decided that I would finish and not just walk away and leave it. I thought I wasn't that bothered about some very spiteful feedback that was printed in a different forum, and logically I know I shouldn't let it affect me, but on reflection it did, especially as the author declared she was doing me a favour by not posting a nasty review. If you don't like something, don't read it, no-one is holding a gun to anyone's head and forcing them, are they?**_

 _ **Rant over and despite the things that were said, there will be one more chapter before I'm done ..**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**A/N: Thank you so much for all the incredibly kind messages and support and for the lovely reviews, I can't begin to tell you how much they meant to me, but suffice to say that when things haven't been the best during this past week I have been back and re-read them all several times… Thank you again xx**_

 _ **I have split this final chapter into two otherwise it was going to end up as an epic and I didn't want to cut anything out, despite all the planning and plotting of chapters I always find it hard to judge until the words get on the screen just how long certain bits are going to turn out to be. The final, final part of this will be updated before S3 begins next week, promise …**_

-OG-

It was when she got outside that it hit her like a truck... She wasn't never going to be a Doctor, wasn't going to be studying medicine here, wasn't going to be studying here at all, well not unless there was some sodding miracle and Mr Twat decided not to fuck her over after all, and all that bullshit she'd been telling herself about how it didn't matter ... was ... just that, bullshit. Of course it bloody mattered ... what the fuck was she going to do now? Five years of believing in it .. down the bog ... and she was powerless to do anything to change it.

Putting a brave face on things was something Molly was good at, well she should be she was well used to it, things around her seemed to have this nasty habit of falling to shit and she should have known better than get her expectations and well, _her hopes_ up the way she had. All those people who'd told her it wasn't going to happen, who'd laughed themselves silly at the idea, well, she was going to have to face them and tell them that they'd been right all along. Talking it over with Bill wasn't going to help, she'd only end up bawling her eyes out in the sort of snotty fit that men hate, and Bill didn't deserve that. She wished more than anything that she had Charles there with her, right now, just to do that thing he did best and hold her ... put his arms round and put his chin on the top of her head, rub his stubble on her hair ... make her feel _safe_... but he couldn't always be there to make things right, and none of this was his fault ... it was hers.

The fact that there were no windows open meant it was horribly warm in the house, but it didn't matter how stuffy it was, it was a huge relief to Molly because it meant the place was mercifully Maggie free. She'd gone off somewhere on some WI coach trip, a stately home or something but she'd forgotten to remind Bill lunch would be in the fridge so had left a note, not that Molly wanted anything to eat, food was the last thing on her mind, and she didn't give a shit where Maggie was, she was just grateful for small mercies of her not being there ... and for the ecstatic welcome she got from a lonely Toffee when he saw her.

"You alright pet?"

"Yeah, fine thanks"

"You sure?"

"Oh I dunno, do I?" She thought carefully for a moment still reluctant to talk about it "Don't think they liked me very much"

Bill peered at her for a moment over the top of his glasses and tried to choose his words with extra care "You know, unless someone tells you straight away, and I'm guessing that that isn't what happened here, it's usually impossible to judge the outcome of any... interview of any sort" Bill wanted to tell her that people quite often make hugely over-optimistic judgements of success after an interview, especially if the interviewer is one of those cretins who wants everyone to think they're a good guy, so they often end up bitterly disappointed, but thought better of saying anything like that just in case she was harbouring any such secret thoughts but didn't want to say anything for fear of tempting fate or was afraid she was messing about with Charles' Lady Luck "Let's go and sit outside and have our lunch, we can open a bottle of my wine ... and you can ring Charles"

"And say what? 'ere, guess what Charlie? I fu ... might have got it all a bit wrong….. epic fail that's me... nah, think that can wait till later when I see him"

"Molly ..." He shook his head and pulled a face as he looked skywards for some sort of divine inspiration as he searched for the right words "I'm sure that's not true, as I am equally sure that you did your best and that's all anyone can ever reasonably ask of anyone" He moved to get a couple of bottles of a dubiously cloudy looking liquid out of the cupboard, and then shook his head at her again as he grabbed some glasses "Come on"

"You know, if that really was me best ….…. Sorry …I can't ….. can't talk about it now, not now" She gulped back the tears that were prickling the backs of her eyes and threatening to escape "You're right, they never said … just they'll let me know and I know you've always gotta 'ave 'ope, I'm a West Ham supporter so believe me when I say I know what I'm talking about, but …. I dunno… I dunno what to say to 'im, maybe later on I'll be able to ….sorry"

"No, no need …. come on, food and a nice big glass of wine and then everything will look much better"

They sat and picked at the salad in a kind of companionable silence and just exchanged the occasional smile as Toffee perched himself on her foot and then shuffled his bum backwards trying to lean all his weight against her leg, something she found strangely comforting somehow. It was hard now for her to remember that there had been a time when she'd been afraid he would eat her.

"Verdict?" Molly shrugged, not clear what he was asking "The wine?" Bill started biting his bottom lip and pretending to be anxious so that just for a moment he looked so exactly like Charles that she couldn't help grinning at him, and was almost tempted to get up and hug him "And it's alright you can be honest …" He bit on his knuckle trying to make her laugh "Marks out of ten, please, come on I'm ready, I can take it, I've got broad shoulders"

He'd seen how she'd shuddered and tried not to gag when she swallowed, but he'd also seen that it hadn't stopped her swigging every last drop from the bottom of her glass.

"I'm sorry, but Maggie _was_ a _bit_ right" She ran her teeth over her bottom lip and tried not to giggle "I don't mean to be unkind or nothing, it was … you know …lovely 'n that… but was a tiny little bit rank …." She gave in and began to giggle again as Bill snorted a laugh and then pretended to be offended when she said maybe a five would be fair.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that was fair …. If you wanted to be cruel, I'm not saying it's not an acquired taste, but that's still a bit …..mean" He was trying desperately hard not to laugh as he waved the second bottle around inviting her to try it, a red, albeit a slightly murky one "Try this one instead? It's plum"

"Yeah, go on then …. "

His suggestion that this might be an ideal opportunity for Molly to sample his wines had proved remarkably effective, it had definitely taken her mind off Bristol so that she no longer felt like bawling but it could just have been that the wine was a bit on the strong side so she could almost feel the alcohol spreading through her veins. Despite what she'd said about it, the Rhubarb hadn't actually tasted that bad, as long as you swallowed it quickly, but it turned out to be nothing like as _lovely_ as the plum, she could definitely see that one growing on her if she drank enough of it.

"You know he loves you, don't you?"

"Who?"

She giggled, suddenly embarrassed. One of them was definitely on their way towards drunk if his swaying backwards and forwards was anything to go by, and they were both still sitting down. She was pretty sure it wasn't her doing the moving, as sure as she could be that was.

"Who do you think?"

Bill wagged his index finger at her to get her to take him seriously, but only succeeded in making her giggle even more at the way his finger was weaving about.

"My son, of course, that's who, who did you think I was talking about?" He scratched his head "Now, I don't want to hear another word about you being any sort of failure, I'm sure he's not going to think anything of the sort"

"You're lovely, you know that don't you? It's really nice of you to say that"

Molly could hear that she was slurring a bit, which surprised her, she didn't think she'd had that much, and that she was sounding a whole lot soppy so thought it was probably time she stopped drinking, but then accepted another top-up. For some reason, the will-power she needed to keep her hand over the top of her glass had gone somewhere, although she was definitely determined to make this one the last, definitely, this was definitely going to be her last.

"I'm a bit worried about being such a bloody useless fuck-up … oops sorry" She put her fingertips against her lips, she hadn't meant to swear.

"You're not" Bill leaned over and patted her hand "I know at least three people who think you're perfect … and there's probably a whole lot more I don't know"

"I don't do perfect"

"Rubbish" He began to tick the names off on his fingers "There's Charles ...of course … and …. Sam …me … I told you, but we don't think you're perfect, we know that you are ….Oh and Toffee here, we mustn't forget him"

Molly laughed as he'd intended her to but he hadn't mentioned Maggie, of course not, and she had no idea why but she'd suddenly begun to think about Rebecca again, as she had about a million times in the last two years, but why today of all days when everything had gone so spectacularly to shit she had no idea. Except maybe because they were talking about being perfect.

Bloody Rebecca. Tall and slim, so much taller than her with those long legs of hers and that tiny little waist, how the fuck did anyone have a waist that small anyway? It wasn't normal …. and always had shoes on that cost more than Molly earned in a month changing shitty bums and getting old buggers to stop flashing everyone, to keep their pants on. Rebecca, who always looked down her nose at her as if she was something she'd seen in the bottom of a toilet. Of course Molly had invariably done her level best to irritate the fuck out of her at every opportunity, she was buggered if she was going to let her see that she'd got to her. So she'd smile and toss her head as if she didn't give a shit, she even pretended to Charlie that she didn't care, when what she really wanted was to go and bury an axe in her head and see how much of a fucking mess she could make of that smooth blonde hair of hers with the ends that were always so straight it looked like she'd just come out the hairdresser. But then Molly had believed in herself … had been convinced she was going to get somewhere and _be someone_ , eventually. But now there was every chance she was going to end up back working in some grotty supermarket, and full time this time ….

"If it had been 'er this morning, she'd of walked it, what with the way she looks and that posh voice of 'ers ….."

"Who?" Bill was puzzled "Who are you talking about?"

"No-one, don't matter" She shrugged and did her best to deflect the conversation much to Bill's relief, he had a very nasty feeling that he knew exactly who she was talking about, but had no wish to go there "I could see the way they looked down their noses at me first time I opened me mouth … "

"Nonsense"

"Wish it was" Molly shrugged "And then the chief twat kept on about me not doing anything properly, about how working nights to pay for ….. everything meant he couldn't see how I could concentrate in lectures when I was knackered, so I must have been sleeping when I was s'posed to be working …. looking out for people at night"

"Stupid man …." Bill allowed his anger to show as he slammed his empty glass down on the table "You know I can't speak for those people this morning, Molly, I don't know them, but one thing I do know is there is absolutely nothing wrong with a regional accent …but there is something very wrong with judging someone's potential because of it, if that is what he was doing, and since when was working all hours …. working hard to achieve something been … _wrong_?"

"Still not sure about trying again somewhere else …"

"I didn't have you down as a quitter ….."

"I'm not"

"No you're not, so …"

"Trouble is, I dunno what to do next, I fucked up and I 'aven't got a plan B … to be honest, I never really thought I'd need one …. stupid or what?" She took a deep breath "I might gonna need to find something else, something different … just not sure what that's gonna be"

-OG-

Waking up and trying to prise open her gummy eyes she hadn't got a clue where she was, or rather she knew only too well where she was but hadn't got a bloody clue how she'd got there. The only thing she knew for certain was that she wanted to slap whoever it was hadn't shut the curtains so that the sun was streaming in and that she was upside down on top of the bed with her feet on the pillow. But then, her memory started to come back, and she wished more than anything that she could switch it off again and go back to the happy ignorance of when she woke up, maybe even go back to sleep. For a year or two.

Oh shit, a steady drip-feed of little flash-backs of the day. Bristol and the Chief Twat … that interview ….. but at least she hadn't lamped him even if he had deserved it …. then the sodding garden party with Bill and his wine …. and then that moment when Charles had appeared, standing in the open doorway. He'd been leaning one hip against the frame with his arms folded in front of him, rolling his tongue around his mouth as he did when he was trying hard not to laugh, but then he'd given in and thrown his head back and shouted with laughter.

"I'll take it then that Mum isn't home?"

She recognised just how pissed she was when he spoke, well just how drunk both her and Bill were. When Toffee had suddenly started to yip and charged off into the house at the sound of someone moving about, both her and Bill had been frozen to the spot, fully expecting to see Maggie back earlier than they expected. So she'd been over the moon with relief and happiness to see it was him standing there instead and had grinned at him, forgetting all about that she hadn't done what she'd promised and called him to tell him how she'd got on, so that he might be a tad mad at her.

"Oh look Bill, it's Charlie back early … hello ….. you're back early"

"Indeed ….. and hello to you too, and yes I am a tad early, although not that early" He moved to kiss her on the top of her head ignoring the puzzled look on her face, she'd lost track of why he was going on about being early, or not. Charles shook his head at Bill and struggled to control his need to laugh at the guilty expressions on both their faces.

"You're a bloody disgrace, you know that don't you? Pair of you"

The fact that he'd had to give in and laugh again took a lot of the sting out of his words, although given a choice he would have much preferred to sit with Molly and listen as she told him exactly how the interview had gone and maybe why she hadn't called. He'd spent nearly all day thinking and worrying about her and getting annoyed and irritated that she'd switched her bloody phone off, but he could see for himself that getting any sense out of her was a forlorn hope, she was extremely drunk.

"Good job it is me and not Mum isn't it Dad? She'd kill you"'

"I'm not afraid of your mother"

"No?" Charles couldn't help laughing at his father's show of bravado "Well, you bloody should be"

-OG-

Molly could hear raised voices coming in through the window, one of which she could have sworn was Maggie, so presumably she'd returned from her coach trip and wasn't terribly impressed for some reason. Molly had no idea how long she'd been asleep, but it seemed it had been long enough for some dead thing to crawl into her mouth and make itself at home, something whose remains she was going to have to scrape off her tongue as soon as she was sure that moving off the bed wouldn't bring on a fatal attack of head rush. She sort of remembered standing up in the garden and how bloody dizzy she'd gone, and definitely didn't want to go there again, and she remembered Charles steadying her when she tripped over the dog but …. then it all got a bit hazy. She could remember going up a few stairs and deciding there wasn't any real need to go any further, that it was an ideal spot for a nap so she'd put her head down … .

"Glad to see you're still alive …." He put a glass of water down on the bedside table "How's the head?"

She hadn't heard him come upstairs, or come in the room, but he was suddenly there, leaning over the bed and smirking at her as he shook his head, something was obviously amusing him, but at least he wasn't angry, or he didn't seem to be anyway.

"I'm sorry ….. you know, about everything"

"So you should be, you're a bloody disgrace getting my father drunk like that" He was laughing as he leaned over to kiss her, ignoring all her frantic attempts to turn her head away so that she wouldn't breathe her dragon breath on him "My mother is busy crucifying him at the moment"

"It weren't my fault, I never made hi …..Oh shit, should I go down there and …. I dunno, say it was me or something?"

"You got a death wish?"

-OG-


	25. Chapter 25

"I like your dad"

Molly lifted her head very cautiously and waited a couple of seconds before crawling up the bed to sit the right way round, she was enormously relieved not to have any significant head rush, not as much as should have had anyway "But I never meant ….. to get slaughtered like that, didn't even notice I was till it was too late" She knew that was a tiny distortion of the truth, but still… "Sorry …"

He sat down and put his arm round her, tucking her comfortably against his side "I know you are, but even so, you should have bloody rung me, Molls, I was ….. getting a tad worried" He tightened his hold and shook her shoulders gently, thinking that was an understatement to beat all previous understatements, he'd been worried sick.

"I know, sorry" She didn't know what else to say and she _was_ sorry, it wasn't a lie.

"Getting pissed on that stuff wasn't your fault, that wine of his can be fucking lethal ….." He snorted as a memory surfaced of a very happy, and exceedingly pissed duo, him and Elvis, outside in the street enthusiastically playing air guitar and singing their hearts out to the unimpressed neighbours at full volume even though Elvis was unfortunately tone deaf. They'd only stopped when an outraged Maggie had come bursting out of the front door and pushed them back inside. It had taken months for her to fully forgive him, even though she'd always lain most of the blame firmly at his father's door "I should know if anyone does"

"If you say so" She sniffed and took a large swig of the water out of the bottle he'd given her, trying desperately to take away the taste of whatever horrible dead furry thing was festering in her mouth "I dunno why I did it …. Well, yeah I do, not that it's any excuse and I know it sounds like I'm sorry for meself, but I 'ave 'ad a bit of a shit day"

"I know you have"

"Do you? Not sure you do" Molly wracked her slightly fuzzy brain cells looking for the right example to make a comparison that would hopefully explain it to him "Do you remember when we was in Brighton?"

"Oh yeah, of course I do, how could I ever forget?" Although she couldn't see his face Molly knew he was smirking at the memory so he definitely wasn't thinking about the same thing she was "Apart from anything else, you tried to fucking cripple me with that pink case that belongs to Bella"

"Not that, I weren't talking about that, and anyway that was you, it was your fault not mine …. Nah, I meant … do you remember when we was in the bar and you were being all broody and miserable 'n I said something … dunno what now, can't remember, something, 'n you looked straight down that posh nose of yours at me" She shook her head "The way you looked at me like that and decided I was dumb when you didn't even know me, didn't know nothing about me"

"I did not"

"Yeah you did … so I decided you were an up yourself posh twat with a stick rammed up your arse"

"Nice"

"You bloody asked for it"

"I know I did, but, come on, be fair, it didn't take me any time at all to find out just how bloody wrong I was, and the more we talked, the more I could see that you were about as far from dumb as it's possible to be" He paused "I thought you were fucking awesome"

"I always thought that was cos you fancied me"

"Well, yes, there was that as well"

Molly gulped down more water, and choked on it slightly so that it dribbled out the corners of her mouth and she had to wipe her chin with her back of her hand "I always thought I'd know straight off, you know, that I'd come out that interview and I'd know cos they'd tell me, that was probably me being bloody dumb, but then I was in there, and the Twat doing all the talking took one look at me and did the same thing you did, I opened me mouth to tell them me name 'n he decided I was dumb and would be better off working in a nail bar or something ….. he never even give me a chance ….. so then I didn't exactly warm to him either"

"Oh fuuuuck ….. you didn't hit him did you?"

"Nah … what do you take me for?" She could hear the rumble of laughter as it vibrated in his chest and began to giggle herself even though it wasn't funny "Nice idea though"

"Would you like me to go and find him and do it for you?"

"Yeah, could you?"

"Of course, remind me and I'll put it on my 'to do' list"

"Ta ….. " She pulled a face and chewed at the corner of her bottom lip "He obviously didn't fancy me like you did ….. mind you, I didn't fancy him either, he was a complete knob"

"I'm bloody glad to hear it" Charles pecked a kiss on the top of her head "And what about the other two?"

"What?"

"Panel of three, right?" she nodded "That's what panel interviews are all about, it's a consensus thing so that it isn't purely down to one person's opinion, in case that person is a complete arsehole"

"Yeah, I know, but he was so shitty to me that I stopped thinking about them others, and just kept trying to, dunno, make him see he was wrong about me, and that even if I did fuck up at school and even if me record from there isn't the best, I've worked really hard since then to … change all that … but he didn't wanna listen, just ignored me when I tried to explain, took no bloody notice at all. He kept on that he didn't see 'ow I could 'ave done me job properly at the same time as studying, so I must 'ave been sleepin' when I shouldn't 'ave been, when I was being paid to look out for people"

"Stupid little fucker, but hey, the other two will have a say in it as well, it won't all be down to him Molly, so let's wait out on the worrying until we know shall we? And then we can sort it if we need to"

"We?"

"Of course _**we**_ " He stroked her hair back from her forehead and kissed the top of her head again as his arm tightened around her shoulders and he pulled her against him "We're a team aren't we?"

"Your Dad said you love me"

"Did he now? Lovely … and why did he do that?"

"Not sure, think it might have been cos he was a bit pissed …. and I said I'd let you down"

"You didn't let me down, you haven't let anyone down"

"Felt like it, felt like I'd ruined everything, that things would be all different and I didn't want things to change, didn't want to be on me own without you and I was afraid that that was what was gonna happen"

"Why would you think that?" He paused and took a deep breath, shaking his head "Things change all the time Molly, but not between us, never between us, I love you and I've been telling you that for … two years, so I'm surprised that it came as news to you. What? Suddenly my dad says it and it's all different …. suddenly you believe it, is that what you're trying to say?"

"Nah ….. well, yeah … I s'pose … a bit, sorry" Molly tried to tilt her chin up far enough to be able to look at his face but couldn't "I've always believed it, you know, when we was together … but then after I'd think about it, 'n I've always known you're a bit out of my league"

"What? What the fuck are you talking about? League, what league? …"

"That I'm quite good enough, not really, not like …. well, there's lots I can't do, like cook 'n drive 'n that, and I don't talk posh but I thought that if people saw I was maybe a bit _clever_ then none of them things would matter as much …"

"Listen very carefully you, are you listening? I. Don't. Fucking. Care, not about any of that stuff, it doesn't matter if you can't cook, I can't either, or if you can't drive, none of it matters, you can learn to do any of that stuff ….if you want to that is" He took a deep breath "That weekend in Brighton, you were right, I was … fucking miserable and … lonely, and then you walked into my life and changed all that, I thought the army was all I needed .. or wanted in my life ….. until I met you" He shook his head slowly from side to side and then smiled "I fell in love with you the minute you gave me that condom and told me they'd be able to see my dick from outer space or was it the Nasa Space Station …?" He started sniggering at the memory.

"I never …" She paused "Did I? Anyhow we was robbed, it didn't glow, only the wrapper"

"Don't think I noticed" He laughed "I just wanted you so badly"

"Did you?"

"Oh yeah, but then come to think of it, I was already in love with you by then, ever since you told me your hobbies were gardening and cooking …. "

"I lied … "

"I know … but that didn't stop me falling in love with you …. And I've been in love with you ever since"

"Ditto"

Molly tried again to see the expression on his face before she said anything else, but couldn't.

"That night in that bar, you know, when you and me was sitting together all squashed up on that sofa, listening to the Sunglass Superdick being a …. dick … I kept wondering what it would be like to kiss you, and wishing the rest of them would just kindly piss off so I could find out"

"Ditto"

"Really?"

"I'm surprised you have to ask" He kissed the top of her head again "You didn't want to kiss me next day though when we went running, as I remember it you were bloody mad at me"

"Nah I wasn't …. Yeah I was … but I bloody didn't wanna kiss you cos I was too busy trying not to die"

"God, I love you, I love you when you're so bloody independent, and I love you when you try and make people believe you're tough as old boots, like you did to me that day, when underneath IK know just how soft centred you are … and sometimes, like that day, just how completely bloody silly…"

"Oi, who you calling silly?"

"You .. but I did say not always, just sometimes" Charles lifted her onto his lap "And you're also very beautiful all the time and ….."

"You're not too shabby looking yourself"

"Shut up and find your own compliments …. Now, where was I? … Oh yep, you're bloody gorgeous and incredibly sexy … and you're very clever and very funny and ever since that weekend whenever you're not with me I can't sleep because I can't stop thinking about you"

"Don't always get much sleep when I am with you either, do you?" Molly giggled and squirmed about on his lap enjoying the effect she was having as his eyes darkened satisfactorily and her shit day from hell started to fade away, everything was beginning to feel _right_.

"Very true.. now bloody sit still, you're distracting me and we need to talk"

"What about?"

"Let's start with how much I love you because of how you're not going to insist on me getting down on one knee, you're going to be very considerate of my war wounds"

"What would you wanna do that for?" Molly stopped giggling, the conversation suddenly felt as if it had taken a turn and become serious "Why are you talking about going down on one knee, well for what exactly? SHIT ….. You're not gonna ask me to marry you or something, are you?"

"Nope, wasn't going to ask if you wanted the 'or something' but yup, I was asking you if you'd like to get married"

"Are you serious? What me, get married to _you_?"

"No not really, just couldn't think of anything else to talk about … of course I'm serious and of course to me, I'm not going to ask you if you'd like to get married to someone else am I?"

"Just checkin'

"Molly, ever since the night we walked along the sea-front in Brighton I've wanted to make you happy, look after you, I thought you knew that"

"I'm just not sure what I'm s'posed to say"

"What, you're not sure?"

"Of course I'm sure I wanna marry you" Molly could no longer stop the laughter that was bubbling up in her chest "Just keep expecting you to say 'sorry that was my idea of a piss-take' or something, so I s'pose I was giving you time to think about it a bit more, and anyway what if I want you to get down on one knee and ask me properly"

"Never mind that, which bit of this is funny, it's not funny, so why are finding it so fucking hilarious? Is it the marrying me bit or the getting down on one knee?"

"Never mind about war wounds, at your age you'll have to be careful, you might have trouble getting up again …. Nah, nah, I'm sorry, sorry I didn't mean it, honestly, I were just messing .. and you know I don't think you're old … and none of this is funny, it's … just I can't 'elp laughing cos I'm dead happy … and you don't 'ave to get down on one knee, I promise"

-OG-

…. _yet given up hope that you'd all have had enough to drink by the time I got up that you'd laugh at my jokes, and there'd still be some of you who didn't know that it was down to me organizing a weekend away that these two even met in the first place. A weekend away in Brighton, and I know what you're all thinking, but you can stop that right now, I can assure you these were not those sort of weekends away and that they were separate, just a coincidence that we'd picked the same hotel"_

He paused to allow the dutiful laugh to die away.

" _Molly here was on a hen night with her friend Phoebe_ "

He inclined his head in Phoebe's direction and grinned at her as he gave her a small wave of acknowledgement, apparently oblivious to the fact that she was almost purple with embarrassment. Phoebe was on a knife edge of anxiety that he might say something, anything that would lead to disclosures in front of friends and in fact in front of anyone who knew her, especially her husband.

" _And I'd dragged a reluctant Charlie here along to a small reunion, and dragged is the right word, he was kicking and screaming every inch of the way, and only changed his mind later when for some reason I've never quite been able to work out, this beautiful girl here picked his ugly mug"_ He patted Charles on the shoulder " _when she could have had well, the pick of the crop"_

He stopped short of pointing at himself even if his inference was clear.

"I _t was obvious to the rest of us how things were going when Charlie here insisted we had to trace which particular nightclub she was in out of the odd five hundred or so that are on the seafront, so that he could see her safely back to the hotel …. But it would have been tragic if he hadn't been able to find the right one because as anyone can see from just looking at them today, they are made for each other… although saying that I'm still not sure what a girl like that who is not only very beautiful but clever enough to be training to be a Doctor sees in him "_ He smirked as Charles shook his head " _Charlie and I have known each other for more years than we care to admit and I have never seen him as happy as he has been since he met Molly, and especially as happy as he is today, not even when he was blind drunk when we were wet behind the ears and learning to be baby officers….._

Molly switched off listening to Elvis as he carried on with tales of exploits at Sandhurst and thought, not for the first time, how much he loved the sound of his own voice and being the centre of attention; and how much she wished he would shut up. She knew Charles had had to ask him, it was a sort of foregone conclusion that Superdick would be best man, but she was a tiny bit concerned that he was going on a bit and Dave had already tried to set up some drinking game with the lads, a game that the Corporal had put the kybosh on before it had even really got going, but as usual her dad badly needed a minder.

She caught Belinda's eye and they both winced, so it was obvious that she'd been thinking along the same lines, probably about both of them, Dave …. and bloody Elvis. All her mum had said when Charlie and her had told her they were getting married was that they would have very beautiful babies, so that Charles had put his head back and roared, had said it was an interesting idea so that she'd kicked him, hard, she could well do without her mum and Nan going on about it every time she spoke to them. It was all she needed when sometimes her biological clock was ticking so loud it was in danger of deafening her, but she had to finish her training and qualify, so she could get a job near where he was stationed first. She was fed up with snatching the odd few hours and days here and there in her bedsit in Bristol, or of being together in Bath and trying to keep their hands off one another with his mum and dad around. Getting a home to share all the time, not just some of the time, was all she really wanted.

….. _and finally I'd like you all to join with me in wishing the very beautiful Molly and the not so beautiful Charlie a very long and happy life together…."_

Molly heard Charlie's tiny embarrassed mutter that he didn't know how many times he had to tell him it was Charles and not Charlie, and that 2 Section were never going to let it go, Elvis didn't seem to hear, or if he did, he took no notice.

"A _nd for those of us who haven't yet been lucky enough to find our own soulmate, as Charlie calls her, well we can but dream that one day we'll all be as lucky as he is today….."_

He held his glass up in the air towards them and waited for everyone to stand up and look in their direction ….

" _Ladies and Gentlemen, a toast, the Bride and Groom"_

 _I hope you'll be very happy"_

-OG-

 _ **A/N: Thank you to everyone who stayed with me from the chance meeting to the wedding, and I hope you enjoyed this last chapter. I don't know whether to be excited or nervous about S3 - but am keeping everything crossed for a lot more CJ this time.**_

 _ **To all the lovely people who've mentioned it in all sorts of ways over the past little while, it hopefully won't be long now until my next visit to The Barn is ready to go xx**_


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